B.C.’s forests ministry has denied reports, published by the BBC and others, that old-growth trees from the province are still being burned as pellets for fuel in the U.K. The province also pushed back on environmentalists’ claims that a leaked old-growth forests map suggests it is playing a “shell game” to allow the harvesting of old-growth trees meant to be protected. “Whole forests of any kind are not being turned into pellets by the forest sector,” said a Ministry of Forests spokesperson in a March 8 email. …Instead, the ministry said, all wood pellets in B.C. are made “almost entirely from waste fibre” such as sawdust, shavings, and leftover wood from logging, which would otherwise have to be burned. …It’s just the latest scrutiny of B.C.’s promise to protect old-growth forests. Controversy resurfaced last month when Conservation North co-authored a report alleging U.K. biofuel company Drax Group has continued burning logs and forestry waste from B.C.’s rarest old-growth forests.