The operator of pellet plants in Houston and Burns Lake is calling assertions it is chipping old-growth wood for pellets “inaccurate and misleading.”
But Drax, a multi-national user of wood pellets, which it burns to help turn turbines to generate electricity, admits that nine truckloads of wood from old growth areas were mistakenly taken to its plants.
“For context, this was nine out of almost 8,000 truckloads delivered to Drax’s pellet plants over the three months in question – delivering equivalent to around 0.15 per cent of the material received,” the company said in a March 13 release.
The assertion Drax was converting old growth into pellets came from a March 10 release in which two environmental groups said the company’s claims in 2023 it would not be taking old-growth wood did not reflect what it was actually doing.
“We were surprised to hear a Drax representative claim that they did not procure old growth logs after 2023. An in-depth analysis shows that this company continued to source logs from old growth as recently as January 2024,” said Len Vanderstar of the Smithers-based Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition.
The company, however, says wood can come from harvest locations known as “blocks” and that there can be overlaps with old growth deferment areas.
“The erroneous truck loads were identified internally at Drax shortly after delivery and we have continued to refine our processes with third parties within our supply chain to reduce the risk of this happening in future. That work is ongoing,” the company said.
Michelle Connolly from Prince George-based Conservation North said Drax actually received 103 loads of logs at its Burns Lake and Houston pellet plants from old growth areas as late as January 2024.
“Thirty-nine of those loads came from blocks that overlapped with [old growth] priority deferral areas,” she said.
Vanderstar said the groups were “appalled” at logging in old-growth areas despite the province’s commitment to preserve old-growth forests.
“What is also upsetting is the fact that these forests are a significant component in carbon capture and should not be used to generate electricity in the name of climate change mitigation.”
“None of the material from these nine trucks has been used for biomass pellets delivered to Drax Power Station in the UK,” Drax said.
The Drax Power Station in Yorkshire, England once burned coal but now burns pellets to heat giant boilers producing steam to turn the turbines to generate electricity.
Because the station burns pellets instead of coal, Drax said it is part of the overall effort to reduce carbon emissions.
In North America, Drax owns in whole or in part a series of pellet plants. Included in that list is a number of pellet plants in the north and interior of B.C. that were purchased from Pinnacle Power in 2021.
The Burns Lake pellet plant was one of those owned by Pinnacle but in Houston, 60 per cent of the pellet plant there is owned by Canfor, with Drax owning 30 per cent and the Witset First Nation the final 10 per cent.