Drax Fuel Plant Wants to be a ‘Major’ Polluter of the Majority Black Community Surrounding It

Owners of a wood processing plant in the majority-Black Mississippi town of Gloster have surrendered all pretense of adhering to the pollution standards it wrongly claimed the facility could meet.

After facing multiple violations and paying more than $2.7 million in combined fines since 2020, international wood fuel producer Drax Biomass Inc. is applying to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for its Amite Bioenergy facility to be a “major source” polluter.

Drax is requesting a new construction permit and a Title V operating permit, which would both raise its pollution cap. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires a public commentary period as part of the application review. The public can submit comment or object to the proposed determinations at MDEQ’s web link or by writing to the attention of Jaricus Whitlock at P. O. Box 2261, Jackson, MS, no later than Nov. 26.

The public may want a say in this. The EPA regards roughly 200 chemicals as “hazardous air pollutants” due to their extreme toxicity or carcinogenic properties, even in very small quantities. These chemicals include arsenic, methanol, and benzine, among others. Drax’ Gloster plant emits methanol, as well as particulate matter of 2.5 microns or smaller (PM2.5), which can pierce the lung membrane and get into the bloodstream for added damage.

Information relative to Drax’ filing reveals the plant is capable of emitting 245 tons of dangerous PM2.5 per year. A pollution test Drax conducted revealed the facility had been releasing 50 tons per year before installing costly contamination controls in 2021. Former Drax Media Manager Selina Williams told BGX in 2021 that upgrades had brought the plant fully into compliance.

“We’ve installed the required equipment, and the plant is compliant with emissions standards,” Williams said. “We take our environmental responsibilities seriously, and we are committed to complying with all local and federal regulations.”

Drax’s current U.S. Communications Manager Michelli Martin initially showed interest in taking BGX’s questions, but ultimately did not respond to inquiries for this story.

Title V limits hazardous air pollutants like PM2.5 and methanol at 25 tons per year, giving Drax permission to dump up to that amount upon its neighbors, so that fight is likely over. But Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Patrick Anderson said the crux of the new fight will be to push the company to comply to the most stringent pollution control technology available.

“The industry standard for these controls is 95% reduction. Drax is currently required to meet 95% in their current permit, but what shocked me was Drax is proposing they’re maximum achievable reduction to be 90%, so they’re essentially going backwards,” Anderson told BGX.

Research reveals racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income groups in the U.S. are at higher risk of premature death from exposure to PM2.5 air pollution, which happens to be the Drax facility’s most abundant hazardous emission.

“Maximum achievable control technology,” is the EPA’s method for keeping polluting companies as clean as possible. Under that standard, Drax should not be allowed to belch out 10 tons of lung-scrambling particulates if a similar wood pellet plant somewhere else has managed to reduce its particulate emissions to only two tons a year. If better technology exists, critics say Drax should install it.

“We have tests from other pellet plants, and even from this pellet plant, that are as high as 98% or even 99% control efficiencies,” said Anderson. “The difference between them doesn’t sound like much, but when you sit down and do the math, it’s a big deal. Ninety-six percent control of 100 tons of pollutant takes you down to four tons, and 98 percent control takes you down to two tons.”

Shady Out the Gatey

Drax’s history with cleanliness was troubled from the start, however. Mississippi leaders fell over themselves coaxing Drax Biomass to build the Gloster plant. The Mississippi Development Authority invested $2.6 million in Hurricane Katrina-related federal community aid to build roads and infrastructure for the plant, and an extra $100,000 in cash. The town of Gloster and Amite County invested $75,000 and $87,500, respectively, while Entergy Mississippi routed additional electricity to the factory site.

Drax responded to that generosity by downplaying the scale of their emissions during its initial permitting process, using bad numbers from a similar facility that was also under-reporting its emissions.

“Drax claimed the engineering testing at the Morehouse (facility) in Louisiana was representative of the Amite facility because both facilities were identical, but Morehouse was also misrepresenting their emissions,” Anderson told BGX. “Morehouse was later penalized for emitting more than 1,000 tons of VOCs while only permitted to emit less than 250. In short, both facilities were emitting way more than allowed, and Drax claimed that ‘engineering testing’ from their Louisiana facility justified the emissions calculations for their MS plant.”

Anderson said it wasn’t hard to figure out the numbers were gamed, especially with similar plants in Georgia and other states belching particulates at a much higher rate. Environmental Integrity Project attorneys took the more realistic numbers to MDEQ and pressed Drax to test their exhaust .

“We found other tests and took them to Mississippi and Louisiana and said, ‘look, you have the exact or very similar plants here but (Drax) is saying they magically don’t have this problem, but we think they do.’”

And they did. More earnest company tests revealed the plant produced three times the amount of Volatile Organic Compounds emissions Drax had claimed, far beyond the federal maximum of 249 tons per year.

Anderson said even that 795.58 number was probably lower than the real number. “After all, they’re sister facility in Louisiana, which is basically identical to the Amite facility, came back with over 1,000 tons per year.”

When Drax owned up to reality, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality hit them in 2021 with the largest fine the state has ever issued for such a violation. Later, when the company proved incapable of keeping emissions below its claims and dumped 50% more than its permitted cap of hazardous air pollutants and nearly twice its allowed limit of methanol, MDEQ whacked them again with another fine. With more citations likely, Drax is finally opting to acknowledge its role as the major polluter it always was.

But of course, the plant is now built, and local leaders are pleased with the cost savings that come of their methanol-gushing neighbor. Gloster Mayor Jerry Norwood remains a fan of the facility, despite the complaints and concerns of its nearest neighbors.

“Gloster currently has the lowest utility rates in the area … thanks to Drax,” Norwood announced on Facebook. “Last year alone we collected $251,931 in gas, $70,000 in water and $47,892 in sewer (fees) from Drax.”

Norwood went on to say the city was able to afford the $102,000 replacement of a 30-year-old power generator at the municipal water plant thanks to money the town collected from Drax, and Amite County Schools got a $400,000 boost in tax dollars from the company.

“As mayor of this town it's my duty to look out for the health, safety and well-being of our citizens,” Norwood said.

The “safety” part, at least, remains in question. Research reveals racial and ethnic minorities and lower-income groups in the U.S. are at higher risk of premature death from exposure to PM2.5 air pollution, which happens to be the Drax facility’s most abundant hazardous emission.

Harvard researchers compared demographic data with the nation’s PM2.5 pollution spread and tabulated the resulting info with the nation’s 32,000 zip codes. They soon discovered disparities in exposure despite PM2.5 levels dropping nationally on average.

In 2016, the average PM2.5 concentration for the Black population was 13.7% higher than that of the white population and 36.3% higher than that of the Native American population. Even worse, the study found PM2.5 concentrations appeared to increase with the Black population, with the most steep inclines occurring in zip code tabulation areas where 85% of the population was Black. A U.S. citizen appears to increase his or her chances of exposure just by moving into an area with a high Black population.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, the town of Gloster is 75% Black, and with a Black mayor.

Again, the last day MDEQ allows for public comment on Drax’s new designation is Nov. 26. Click here to have a word.