As Canada faces more and more climate change-fuelled disasters like out-of-control wildfires and increasingly severe storms, the Houston government is quietly setting the stage to expand burning forest biomass for electricity generation under the guise of fighting climate change.
But let’s be clear: biomass is not a climate solution.
Nova Scotians see this for what it is: a way to secure more profits for corporate interests while diverting resources away from sustainable forestry and legitimate climate solutions.
Add your voice: Sign the petition telling the Houston government that Nova Scotians want real clean energy solutions, not inefficient, carbon intensive, large-scale biomass.
Let’s send a strong message to the Houston government: no more false promises. No more ignoring our communities’ concerns. No more threats to our forests, wildlife and climate. No more locking us into dead-end industries for the sake of corporate profits.
NO MORE B.S.
Petition:
To the Honourable Tim Houston, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Tim Halman, Minister of Energy Trevor Boudreau and Minister of Natural Resources Tory Rushton,
Burning biomass for energy is not a climate solution. Growing research has shown that burning forest biomass for energy production releases as much carbon emissions as coal, risks further degradation of Nova Scotia's forests and is one of the least efficient energy sources available. Emissions from biomass burning are said to be offset by the regrowing of harvested trees, but it takes decades for these trees to grow back - time we cannot waste when it comes to the climate emergency - all while releasing carbon stored in both the trees themselves and the soil.
Recent changes to the environmental assessment process and the provincial government's requirement that Nova Scotia Power increase use of biomass burning is short-sighted. Claiming these changes are to increase clean energy is simply disingenuous.
We are calling on the Government of Nova Scotia to reverse it's directive to Nova Scotia Power to increase biomass burning for electricity, to remove biomass burning from the Class 1 environmental assessment process and to find sustainable alternative uses for sawmill waste - such as long-lasting manufactured products, like insulation for homes, pressboard for construction or biochar for agriculture.