Activists Stop Fake Green Energy Across 4 States

A grassroots movement is stopping companies from turning forests into fuel, and they're winning battles across the globe.

Last June, California activists celebrated after Golden State Natural Resources abandoned plans to build two wood pellet mills in Northern California. The company wanted to harvest trees from drought-stressed forests, turn them into pellets, and export them to be burned as fuel overseas.

The victory came after 50,000 public comments and countless community members showing up to hearings. Local environmental justice groups in Stockton fought especially hard, knowing increased industrial activity would worsen air quality in neighborhoods already suffering from some of California's highest asthma rates.

"This project would have transformed California in a very negative way," said Gary Hughes, an organizer with Biofuelwatch. "Grassroots organizing put a stop to it."

The California win wasn't isolated. Last year, similar projects were defeated in Mississippi, Washington State, and the Netherlands as communities exposed what activists call a "false climate solution."

The wood pellet industry markets itself as green energy, claiming burning trees is carbon neutral because new trees can be replanted. But that ignores a crucial fact: carbon from burned wood stays in the atmosphere for decades or centuries before young trees can reabsorb it.

Some estimates place the carbon footprint of wood pellet energy close to coal. Industry whistleblowers and activists conducting "ground-truthing" have documented companies cutting whole, mature trees despite claims they only use logging leftovers.

In the UK, the Drax Power Station burns wood pellets with support from roughly a billion pounds in annual government subsidies. After years of community organizing, street outreach, and pressure campaigns, those subsidies were cut in half for the 2027-2031 period.

"The deal they got is far from what Drax wanted," said Merry Dickinson of the Stop Burning Trees Coalition.

When Mississippi state regulators denied a permit for a Drax pellet plant in Gloster last April, it showed how grassroots pressure is pushing policymakers to take a harder line. The decision protected a small community from industrial pollution while preserving nearby forests.

The Ripple Effect

This movement shows how local communities speaking up can stop global corporations from profiting off environmental destruction. By building alliances across movements, educating neighbors, and showing up to hearings, ordinary people are protecting forests that absorb carbon naturally while preventing air pollution in vulnerable communities.

The momentum is real. In Washington State, additional biomass projects were shelved after community opposition. In Canada, activists continue tracking logging trucks to document what the industry is really cutting.

"The movement against the forest biomass industry is winning," said Michél Legendre of the Dogwood Alliance. "People exposing this industry for what it is have put it on shaky ground."

Each victory proves that real climate solutions don't require destroying what already works: living forests.