\n<\/p>\n
W<\/span>hen Helen Reed first learned about the bioenergy mill opening in her hometown of Gloster, Mississippi, the word was it would bring jobs and economic opportunities. It was only later that she learned that activity came with a cost: the Amite Bioenergy mill, opened in 2014 by British energy giant Drax, emits large \u2013 and sometimes illegal \u2013 quantities of air pollutants, including methanol, acrolein and formaldehyde, which are linked to cancers and other serious illnesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I go out, I can\u2019t hardly catch my breath,\u201d Reed said. \u201cEverything is worse since Drax came here.\u201d<\/p>\n The facility churns out billions of wood <\/strong>pellets each year to meet surging overseas demand for \u201csustainable biomass\u201d, a renewable alternative to coal.<\/p>\n <\/span>The Amite BioEnergy wood pellet production facility in Gloster.<\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/For the Guardian<\/p>\n Now, Gloster residents are suing Drax, alleging that the company unlawfully exposed people to \u201cmassive amounts of toxic pollutants\u201d, according to the October filing.<\/p>\n Drax, one of the world\u2019s biggest players in the booming biomass industry, has turned the UK\u2019s largest coal power station, a mile-wide complex in rural Yorkshire, into what is essentially an immense wood stove fueled with Mississippi and Louisiana pine. The company, whose Yorkshire plant is among the UK\u2019s largest single carbon emitters, has faced scrutiny and lawsuits in the UK for pollution and workplace safety violations.<\/p>\n Its operations in the US are also beginning to draw legal challenges. \u201cThis case is about holding a multi-billion-dollar foreign corporation accountable for poisoning a small Mississippi community,\u201d said Letitia Johnson, an attorney representing the group, in a statement.<\/p>\n When the Gloster plant opened, many in the low-income, majority-Black town of 850 people were optimistic that it would revitalize the local economy. But some residents say it has brought little more than noise, dust and toxic air.<\/p>\n Michelli Martin, a Drax spokesperson, said the company is making strides to reduce pollution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe safety of our people and the communities in which we operate is our priority, and we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously,\u201d Martin said. \u201cAs a company dedicated to sustainable energy production, high standards of safety and environmental compliance are always our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Drax\u2019s Gloster plant is one of 30 large pellet mills \u2013 including five belonging to Drax \u2013 in the US south. Inside these plants, stacks of logs are stripped of bark, shredded, cooked in 1,000-degree tumble dryers, pulverized in hammermills, and pressed into pellets destined mostly for export.<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Pellet exports from the US have quintupled, growing from 2 million tons in 2012 to about 10.5 million tons in 2023, according to the US Industrial Pellet Association. Most pellets are sent to the UK and Europe, where they are classified as a renewable energy source on par with solar and wind, making wood-burning eligible for massive subsidies, low-interest loans and other government incentives.<\/p>\n But researchers say the drying, crushing and cooling processes at the mills emit air pollution that could be contributing to nearby residents\u2019 health problems.<\/p>\n \u201cAir pollution is magnitudes higher in Gloster, especially with VOCs [volatile organic compounds],\u201d said Erica Walker, a Brown University epidemiologist. She and a team of researchers set up air pollution monitors in the town and found clouds of VOCs concentrated around the mill and neighboring residential areas.<\/p>\n \u201cLiterally, my first question when I visited Gloster was: \u2018Who zoned this?\u2019\u201d she said of the mill, which abuts a mobile home park and is less than a mile from a children\u2019s day care center. \u201cIt\u2019s right out in the open. No acoustical barriers, no buffer of trees. It was shocking to see it operating right in the middle of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/For the Guardian<\/p>\n Gloster mayor Jerry Norwood said small, remote mill towns like his can\u2019t thrive without plants like Drax\u2019s. \u201cAll of these small towns, we have nothing,\u201d he said. \u201cIf big business don\u2019t commit the big dollars, we don\u2019t have the tax base. We have to have that for community growth.\u201d<\/p>\n Norwood did not respond to emailed questions about pollution or residents\u2019 lawsuits against Drax, but in an October op-ed published before the suit was filed he wrote: \u201cThose who oppose Drax and some in the media have made our town out to be some sort of smog-filled nightmare, but that is simply false. Along with my friends and neighbors who live, work and play in Gloster, I can assure you we breathe clean air.\u201d<\/p>\n Gloster residents, once hopeful that the mill would reverse the town\u2019s decline \u2013 it has lost more than 20% of its population since 2000 \u2013 say it is only hastening it. Many say their experience should come as a warning to other communities.<\/p>\n Longtime resident Carmella Wren-Causey, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against Drax, said she started using an oxygen tank in 2020 after developing breathing problems she blames on the mill. \u201cWe\u2019re being poisoned slowly, right before our eyes,\u201d she said through tears.<\/p>\n \u201cGod gave me breath when he gave me life,\u201d she said. \u201cDrax took it away.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Carmella Wren-Causey in her car.<\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Drax, one of the world\u2019s largest pellet companies, has racked up nearly $6m in violations for its operations in Mississippi and Louisiana over the past four years.<\/p>\n In 2020, the Mississippi department of environmental quality, following years of prodding from environmental groups, found the company\u2019s Gloster mill was emitting an average of 796 tons of VOCs per year \u2013 more than three times the limit allowed under the mill\u2019s permit \u2013 and fined the company $2.5m.<\/p>\n Louisiana officials, too, found that Drax had been breaking several of its air quality rules, and in 2022 reached a settlement in which Drax paid $3.2m but admitted no wrongdoing.<\/p>\n <\/span>The Drax power station in North Yorkshire.<\/span> Photograph: Gary Calton\/The Observer<\/p>\n The settlement was the largest in more than a decade for Louisiana environmental officials, but it appears to be the extent of any serious efforts to rein in Drax\u2019s pollution in Louisiana, said Patrick Anderson, an attorney who, when working with the Environmental Integrity Project, reviewed Drax\u2019s pollution history in Mississippi and Louisiana.<\/p>\n The Louisiana department of environmental quality did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Matt White, vice-president of Drax\u2019s North American operations, said that Drax has since made several upgrades and changes to reduce emissions, including installing a thermal oxidizer at the Gloster mill that they say essentially burns away VOCs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take our environmental responsibilities and compliance extremely seriously,\u201d White said. \u201cCompliance is at the foundation of everything we do, and we have invested a lot of hours and resources with the goal of continuously improving our operations.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>People support a Drax protester who was detained by UK police in 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Gary Calton\/The Observer<\/p>\n Despite the upgrades and repeated promises to do better, Drax continued to incur fines for pollution violations. In late 2024, Drax agreed to pay $225,000 for exceeding the Gloster mill\u2019s limits for hazardous air pollutants, particularly for methanol, which were recorded at nearly double the permitted threshold, according to the MDEQ.<\/p>\n In April 2025, amid complaints from residents, the MDEQ denied Drax permission to increase its emissions. Its reversal of that decision in October \u2013 allowing Drax\u2019s Gloster mill to become a \u201cmajor source\u201d of hazardous air pollutants \u2013 triggered the lawsuit against the company.<\/p>\n A representative from the MDEQ declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said: \u201cMDEQ takes seriously its obligations to protect human health and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n The $6m in penalties over the past four years are a drop in the bucket for Drax, Anderson said. The company raked in $1.4bn in profits in 2024 and about 1.3bn in 2023, according to Drax\u2019s adjusted earnings reports.<\/p>\n \u201cDrax is so profitable and so subsidized that it powers through all of this,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThe fines don\u2019t hurt their bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers have found several signs that these pollutants are having real consequences.<\/p>\n The air monitors that Walker and her team installed detected unexpected spikes in VOCs during the night, something that lines up with residents\u2019 complaints of foul odors and difficulty breathing after dark.<\/p>\n \u201cAt night, it\u2019s always worse,\u201d Gloster resident Robert Weatherspoon said. \u201cIt smells disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Robert Weatherspoon once jogged daily but now struggles to breathe.<\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/The Guardian<\/p>\n This could indicate pollution \u201cdumping\u201d during certain hours, Walker said.<\/p>\n Drax disputed the dumping claim. \u201cAny suggestion that we manipulate our operations to avoid complaints or detection is completely false,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n Walker\u2019s team also found that the closer children lived to the mill, the heavier they were. \u201cIt fits with some of the things we heard at community meetings,\u201d Walker said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want your kids playing outside because the air\u2019s polluted. If they\u2019re staying inside, how are they getting physical activity?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the hazardous chemicals that are keeping residents up at night.<\/p>\n Glen Henderson, a resident of Urania, Louisiana, whose Drax mill opened in 2017, described near-constant clanging and banging from the mill. Lights glow over the tops of an ever-thinning band of trees between his home and the mill, nearly a mile away, and at daybreak, a powdery substance often coats his truck.<\/p>\n \u201cThis noise and dust \u2013 what are the long-term effects of all that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n In 2024, Walker and a team of researchers from the University of Mississippi and Drexel University published a study based on a noise exposure assessment in Gloster.<\/p>\n <\/span>Children walk home after being dropped off by their school bus in Gloster.<\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/For the Guardian<\/p>\n They found the mill\u2019s operations and truck traffic sometimes topped 70 decibels, whereas the comparably sized Mississippi town of Mendenhall, which does not have a pellet mill, was typically 10 decibels quieter.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an enormous difference,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt\u2019s like turning a faucet into Niagara Falls.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin said Drax follows federal noise abatement guidelines and insulates buildings to mitigate sound levels.<\/p>\n \u201cPellet mills generate noise as part of the manufacturing process from the operation of equipment,\u201d Martin said. \u201cThe noise from facility operation is consistent with the surrounding industrial plants and does not contribute to significant impacts above existing background noise.\u201d<\/p>\n A growing body of research has linked chronic noise exposure to high blood pressure, heart attacks, anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n \u201cNoise disrupts your sleep, disrupts your mood, and sets off a stress response that\u2019s like your \u2018fight or flight\u2019 response, which makes your body ready to fight a threat or run from it,\u201d Walker said. \u201cThe constant stimulation of that response can cause all kinds of health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Community leader Krystal Martin shows a photo of the Gloster facility.<\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The company recently expanded a mill in Alabama, established a North American headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana and opened an office in Houston to lead its carbon capture and sequestration enterprises.<\/p>\n Over the past six years, the Urania mill alone has produced enough pellets to fill the New Orleans Superdome nearly twice.<\/p>\n Yet several residents in Gloster and Urania said that output has not revitalized their economies. Each of the three large Drax mills in Louisiana and Mississippi employs between 70 and 80 people, a fraction of the workforce supported by many past mills. In Gloster, only 15% of Drax\u2019s employees reside in the community, according to the company.<\/p>\n <\/span> Photograph: Kathleen Flynn\/For the Guardian<\/p>\n Mabel Williams, a lifelong resident of Gloster, never wanted a Drax job, but she had high hopes that the mill would employ enough people to breathe life back into downtown. Walking along a largely vacant Main Street, her memories crowded every empty lot and darkened window.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were people everywhere,\u201d said Williams, 87, who spent decades cleaning the homes of the white residents who have mostly moved away. \u201cThis was a clothing store and that was a jewelry store owned by a German man. And over there, my mamma worked at the cafe.\u201d Across the train tracks was the Black business district, with four barbershops, restaurants and music venues, she said. \u201cI get excited when I think about what Gloster had,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Williams still has faith that Gloster is capable of a revival, but she no longer believes it will be thanks to Drax.<\/p>\n \u201cDrax is making so much money,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to spend that money some kind of way, but they\u2019re not spending it here.\u201d<\/p>\n A longer version of this story is forthcoming from <\/em>Verite News<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Helen Reed first learned about the bioenergy mill opening in her hometown of Gloster, Mississippi, the word was it would bring jobs and economic opportunities. It was only later that she learned that activity came with a cost: the Amite Bioenergy mill, opened in 2014 by British energy giant Drax, emits large \u2013 and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[11021,16083,5084,1869,5104,3048,20866,6930],"class_list":{"0":"post-37914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-drax","9":"tag-harming","10":"tag-mississippi","11":"tag-plant","12":"tag-residents","13":"tag-town","14":"tag-woodpellet","15":"tag-worse"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A history of violations<\/h2>\n