I can hardly believe that Governor Baker wants to roll
back restrictions on biomass being considered renewable energy and eligible for
tax breaks.
1. This is insane. Biomass produces more CO2 than coal,
oil, and gas. By no stretch of the imagination is biomass eco
friendly.
2. Allowing the biomass industry to destroy our forests
is insane. There is a huge demand for wood pellets world wide. The result is the devastation of US
forests. This will only get worse. Why is money the only driver in our country?
Doesn’t the survival of our planet mean anything to our elected leaders?
3. Biomass is like an insatiable monster. An acre of
trees is burned in an afternoon. This is insanity.
4. Forests are fragile ecosystems. I don’t buy the
argument that tree cutting is managed and good for forests. This is propaganda
designed to make us accept this devastation. A forest is habitat for many
endangered species. There is an interdependence among the plants and animals of
an undisturbed forest. It’s simply not true that tearing forests apart with
huge logging equipment is good for the forest. It’s great for deer ticks and
mice. Forests have survived for millions of years without our interference.
Leave our state lands alone. It takes a lifetime for a forest to be restored
after logging.
5. 25% of the state’s forests are on public land. Why
can’t we leave this 25% natural? We don’t have much say over private lands, but
public ones should be left alone. There’s plenty of land for those critters and
plants that like logged woods. 75% of forests in MA.
6. Our watersheds depend on our forests. Trees shade
streams and slow evaporation. They prevent erosion. Trees hold water and are
important reservoirs. Not to mention our reliance on trees to sequester CO2 and
create the oxygen we breathe. Old trees hold vastly more CO2 than young ones.
7. Cut forests are ugly forests.
8. Biomass causes serious health issues. The City of Haverhill
has an epidemic of asthma many believe from their solid waste incinerator. And
Massachusetts is considering biomass plants in the Westfield Valley and
Springfield, which is already plagued with asthma and has poor air quality.
Insanity.
Massachusetts needs to join California in drastic
measures to save this planet. One important way is to stop burning of fossil
fuels. And the most polluting is biomass. I live across the street from someone
with an outdoor wood burning furnace. i know what
it’s like to have our neighborhood filled with smoke. We need to get serious
about solar and wind. We need to be aggressive in finding ways to save energy,
for everything we use to be energy efficient. We need to have strict building
codes demanding eco friendly structures. We need to
get electric and solar cars on the streets and create an infrastructure so
electric car owners can recharge with the same ease as filling up the gas tank.
We need to put solar panels in locations that are wasted areas: unused dumps, parking
lots, along hi ways. There’s no reason to destroy our precious forests and
farmlands for solar arrays. We have plenty of places to put solar panels. Every
parking lot should be covered with them. Every roof top.
Governor Baker has got to stop caving to the wood
products industry. The fossil fuel industry is already destroying our planet
for their greedy lust for money. The new monster in town, the biomass industry,
is gaining steam. We need to stop them in their tracks. If Governor Baker does
not restrict biomass, he may as well take a gun and shoot us all down. Because
that’s exactly what he’s doing. It’s a slow death, but if we don’t stop this
madness, that’s what will happen to most or maybe all life on earth.
Yours truly, Charlotte Burns