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