Krysta West

Biomass is part of the natural carbon cycle, which is why both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Maine Department of Environmental Protection — along with the vast majority of environmental agencies in other industrialized nations — consider it carbon neutral when it comes from sustainably managed forests. As new trees grow, they absorb the carbon released when wood is used as fuel, unlike fossil fuels, which add carbon that had been stored underground for millions of years. Some, like the D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project, disagree. Their recent report criticizes mills for using forestry leftovers and other fuel that they claim “can be dirtier than coal.” …This is not just an attack on our pulp and paper industry, it’s an attack on our heritage, which is why it is troubling that the Bangor Daily News and others published a recent article that originated in the Maine Monitor based on EIP’s faulty report.