“Stop Burning Trees...Stop Injustice”  Say the Woodberrys in their visit to the UK from Southern USA. 

By Rohan Lewis

The town of Florence, South Carolina, lies about forty miles inland from the coast, midway between the cities of Charleston and Wilmington. There the New Alpha Community Development Corporation “works in the areas of the environment, health, and community economic development…to develop more participatory democratic empowerment models that improve the lives of lower- and middle-class people and families”. Among their chief concerns is the logging of ancient forests and pollution from the growing number of wood pellet mills being built by Enviva Ltd right across the southeastern USA, almost always in areas where the majority inhabitants are people of colour. There is no domestic market in the USA for these pellets: all are shipped across the Atlantic to fuel European power stations, the largest of which is at Drax.

During the first week of February,the founder of New Alpha CDC, Rev. Leo Woodberry, came to London at the invitation of the US Embassy (the occasion being Black History Month 2023) together with his wife and another activist, Loretta.

Merry Dickinson of Biofuelwatch arranged a day trip for them to Selby, where they were able to see Drax power station for themselves, and meet with local FoE and Green Party members, including Lee-Ann and Rohan from Hull FoE. (Photo above)

The environmental effects of wood pellet production have been well documented by Carolina- based campaign group Dogwood Alliance in films such as “Burned”. Still, it was saddening to hear from Rev. Woodberry of the big increase in respiratory disease caused by the dust from these plants, and from Loretta about the death of her daughter from breast cancer at the age of 21, which she attributes to the chemicals released from Enviva’s wood-pellet plant into their water supply.

On the afternoon of Thursday 9th February the three, wearing their green baseball caps bearing the New Alpha motto “Justice First”, took part in a demonstration in London against the UK Department of Energy’s continuing policy of subsidising Drax by a levy on all fuel bills.

This took place outside the Department’s buildings just off Parliament Square in London. (Photo below)  The demo was organised by the Stop Burning Trees coalition, which includes Biofuelwatch and Axe Drax! together with Extinction Rebellion, Fossil-Free London and Christian Climate Action. Representatives of all these groups spoke, as well as Rev Leo Woodberry himself – you can watch his speech here.

This Spring is a crucial time for Drax, who are going all-out to continue their present subsidy regime beyond 2027, by launching their planning application for a CO2 capture and storage plant as the great hope for the future.

Hull Friends of the Earth have joined the Stop Burning Trees coalition – here is how you can help stop Drax:

• Call on your MP to stop subsidies for Drax! Drax relies on subsidies to function, and the UK government has been giving them over £2 million a day! Click the link to demand this stops. 

• Tell Barclays to #DropDrax! Barclays are on of Drax's main funders, alongside being Europe's biggest funder of fossil fuels! They use their investments with Drax to claim they're investing in 'renewable energy' and to greenwash their other investments. It's time for Barclays to #DropDrax and stop funding climate wrecking companies! 

• Donate to the Axe Drax activist support fund! Axe Drax activists are currently facing massive court costs for taking action against the UKs single largest carbon emitter, and they need your support. We know everyone's short on cash at the moment, but if you can spare a few quid they'd massively appreciate it!