Here’s What States Should Do to Fight Climate Change Under Trump
Another way states can sometimes sway industries is by clamping down on manufacturing practices. North Carolina and Virginia, for instance, have become hubs for biomass companies, whose business model is to cut down forests and convert trees into wood pellets. Most of the pellets are then shipped to Europe, where they’re used in power plants, as an alternative to fossil fuels. It’s a misguided practice, not only because of the deforestation, but also because wood is often a dirtier form of energy than coal.
Enviva, the world’s largest biomass company, had four plants in North Carolina before it declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Numerous other biomass companies still operate there. The state has reportedly given the industry at least $10 million in subsidies over the years—and Drew Ball, the Southeast Campaigns Director for NRDC, sees this as a potential pressure point. “It’s a market that’s propped up by subsidies,” he said. “These false solutions need to be under a microscope.”
In TNR’s interviews with advocates, a common theme was that these state-level policies can provide new organizing opportunities, even in polarized environments. No one likes cronyism, and conservatives can sometimes be persuaded that subsidies for inefficient industries are a bad idea. Likewise, conservatives are being won over to renewables as they become cheaper, and Republican voters can often be enlisted to fight new industrial projects that threaten to pollute their land, water, and air—all the more so as the effects of climate change become more pronounced. In fact, local environmental issues have often served as entryways into activism for people who had never engaged much in politics before.
