Guest essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Wayne Delbeke – the Guardian has just noticed that a rise in demand for wood chips, for “green” biomass power schemes, has led an increase in logging, including legally dubious clearances of large swathes of protected forests.
Protected forests in Europe felled to meet EU renewable targets – report
Europe’s bioenergy plants are burning trees felled from protected conservation areas rather than using forest waste, new report shows.
Protected forests are being indiscriminately felled across Europe to meet the EU’s renewable energy targets, according to an investigation by the conservation group Birdlife.
Up to 65% of Europe’s renewable output currently comes from bioenergy, involving fuels such as wood pellets and chips, rather than wind and solar power.
Bioenergy fuel is supposed to be harvested from residue such as forest waste but, under current legislation, European bioenergy plants do not have to produce evidence that their wood products have been sustainably sourced.
Birdlife found logging taking place in conservation zones such as Poloniny national park in eastern Slovakia and in Italian riverside forests around Emilia-Romagna, where it said it had been falsely presented as flood-risk mitigation.
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The referenced report, which details forest destruction around the world, not just in Europe, is available here.
I’m shocked – who would have thought that providing billions of dollars of government subsidies for greedy corporatists to generate impractical amounts of electricity from “renewable” biomass, no questions asked, would lead to corruption, kickbacks, and large scale destruction of the world’s protected woodlands?
Higher CO2 increases plant and tree growth so thank you fossil fuels. Now if they could just increase the temperatures a bit more we would all be better off .
On a positive environmental front at least the” Swamp” is about to be drained in the USA . . How about redirecting a tenth of what that scam global warming bilks tax payers by. Put it into clean water and electricity for the billions of people and animals left out because of the biggest scam in history .
Out green the greenies instead of feeding more green wash corporate fraud and globalist ambitions of
the UN and Club Of Rome .
Stop the subsidization of green washers and corporations that wouldn’t exist without never to be repaid tax payer loans and loan guarantees .
Stop fuel poverty deaths that are a direct result of completely ignorant government policies .
The only ” WHO KNEW ” investigation needed is to haul crooked scientists,, government
bureaucrats/politicians and global warming conmen into court to account for 100,000 ‘s of thousands of fuel poverty deaths . The UN / IPCC ring leaders mislead by omission the truth and the people crafting the wording knew full well they were misleading the public to facilitate their agenda . An agenda that was a death sentence for mainly the poor .
Consider that about 90% of New England’s woodlands are privately owned. That’s an awful lot of natural habitat that could go up in smoke, quite literally. Deforestation has happened in New England before, in favor of Merino sheep farming in the early 1800s, for example, in which case, forests were simply felled and burned to no purpose other than clearing the land. When the bottom fell out of the sheep market in mid-century, most New England farms were abandoned and their former owners took the new Erie canal to Ohio, leaving their erstwhile sheep pens to become New England’s storied stone walls. Then the white pines took over, and by the end of the century, they were all felled for the timber industry. I remember as a kid growing up in Vermont in the 1940s, there was hardly a stick standing, and what there was was mostly blown down by the 1938 hurricane. There were no fishers, foxes, coyotes, warblers, or cardinals then, but they all came trooping back with the new hardwood forests that grew up under the shade of the felled pines.
It’s sobering to think of what could become of these New England forest habitats if suddenly a carbon tax were to make oil and gas more expensive than fuelwood, and infuriating to think that it’s all for naught because carbon dioxide might not cause warming anyway (Google “Interesting Climate Sensitivity Analysis” for a discussion of this).
@shawn
“The clear cutting muddies the lake with massive runoff. ”
First of thanks for actually making the effort to state your reasons. That way you will not have to tell others they made poor assumptions.
The reason Smith Mountain Lake is ‘muddy’ is the decay of organic matter (aka oak leaves) and the poor red clay soil. We lost an oak tree during a week of heavy rain. Water saturated clay turns to ooze.
The silver lining of stupid energy polices in Germany or California is rural jobs. Instead of growing tobacco, Virginians are harvesting trees.
“Civility helps a discussion enlighten both parties. Abuse enlightens neither.”
James I agree. However, I suspect you overlook the lack of it in people who share your clueless agenda. I am blatantly uncivil to those who deserve it.
“you are not really talking about a real power plant that makes a noticeable contribution to the grid. ”
You would be wrong. Smaller local plants play an important role in maintaining ‘power quality’ on the local grid.
“Real power plants are measured in hundreds of MW ….”
Not true! I have produced electricity on small and very large power plants. They are all real and rating is more complicated than bulk power rating.
James you have a very stupid big city mentality. It is true that big cities need big power plants. It is truly stupid to think that there are places that are not big cities and practical solutions for those places.
“25 mile radius of London”
Have not been there but I have been to the concrete cesspool called NYC and many other large cities. Large cities are a huge source of wood waste and they pay to ship it away and bury it in a landfill.
“Can you find out without calling me “stupid beyond belief”? Thanks.”
Sure, if you are a delicate flower and need me to tell you how insightful your comment is, you have it. Your self esteem is important to me.
“I’m a retired forester, so I’d like to know.”
LK thank for your comment. I have yet to meet an irresponsible forester, farmer, or power plant operator.
“In that case, you aren’t paying attention!”
I do not pay attention to many newspapers.
I was taking a course in dealing with the press. I person from a different industry asked about a story about the 5 worst polluters in the county that included her company. His reply was he was directed to do a story on the 10 worst. Since the newspaper was number six, the assignment was changed.
Journalist are not a good source of information.