Biomass Opponents Silenced by North Carolina Commission

Residents of six counties in North and South Carolina facing massive chicken and pig-manure burning biomass power incinerators, including a man dressed as a chicken [pictured below], were barred from giving testimony at a North Carolina Utilities Commission hearing over biomass electricity requirements on August 28 in Raleigh.

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Gainesville, FL Ratepayers Demand Biomass Refund

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of Gainesville City Hall on August 2 to demand that Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) repay $15 million to ratepayers—$194 per household—for high electric rates associated with the construction of the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center (GREC), a 100-megawatt biomass incinerator scheduled to go online in 2013. Protesters accused the utility of overcharging ratepayers to cover future costs of acquiring wood for the incinerator, despite a decrease in the utility’s current fuel costs.

Nurse Speaks Out on Biomass Health Threats

- by Debbie Martinez, RN, Gainesville, Florida

As a registered nurse I find it alarming that Alachua County’s huge medical community has remained silent on dangerous smokestack emissions as more research now demonstrates that air pollution from the city’s planned biomass incinerator will pose a significant health risk to adults, children and the unborn within a 200 mile radius of GRU’s Deerhaven site.

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