A bill aimed at increasing the number of wood pellet mills in Louisiana has sailed through the state’s Legislature — despite some lawmakers, including the bill’s sponsor, acknowledging they know little about the controversial industry.
State Representative Chuck Owen, a Republican from Vernon Parish in west Louisiana, said he proposed House Bill 670 in February shortly after learning about the industry, which exports about $1 billion worth of pellets from Louisiana each year. Nearly all the production comes from two British-owned mills in central and north Louisiana that emit large — and sometimes illegal — quantities of air pollutants linked to cancers and other serious illnesses.
Owen, whose district spans one of the state’s most timber-rich regions, said the goal of his bill is to make Louisiana a “premier location for wood pellet manufacturing.”
The legislation gives a state agency, Louisiana Economic Development, broad direction to... Read more
