The Public Agency Dogwood Alliance declared that about 30 entrepreneurs and public leaders had joined its campaign “Our forests aren’t fuel”.
Annually the State of Georgia ships about one million of tonnes of wood pellets to Europe, which are incinerated at electric power stations as the ecologically clean alternative to coal. But, the scientists voice their growing doubts over the current situation especially when taking into consideration the fact of the necessity to transport the pellets over such considerable distances and the use of the entire tree trunk as raw material. Besides, a number of researches shows that the use of biomass causes more copious amount of carbon dioxide emissions compared to coal.
The Agency Dogwood Alliance appealed to the British Consulate General in Atlanta backed up by the policy of the UK government on reducing the use of wood biomass as fuel.
"The development of the biomass industry in Georgia poses the growing menace of climatic variations, increases the menace to the wild fauna and, moreover, it is not a very profitable investment. New biofuel standards ought to be defined in order to satisfy the public demand, they must be adapted to the environment and must correspond to the public health service", declared Rita Frost, the representative of the Agency.
