Coalition calls report insufficient in protecting local environment and communities and call for its rejection

SACRAMENTO, CA (January 22, 2025) - As Golden State Natural Resources' (GSNR) Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) public review period on its industrial-scale wood pellet project proposal comes to a close, civil society is raising their opposition.   

The project would include two industrial-scale wood pellet plants, one in the central Sierras and another in Northern California, as well as a storage and export terminal in Stockton, CA. The wood pellets will ultimately be burned in overseas power plants. While the project rests on wildfire mitigation and forest resiliency, the DEIR fails to adequately explain how GSNR would achieve that goal, fails to evaluate alternatives that would actually reduce wildfire risk, and admits it will cause significant air pollution impacts to communities and worsen the biodiversity and climate crises.  

Opponents say the analysis included within the DEIR is woefully insufficient, lacking critical details, and riddled with inaccuracies. Even based on their own analysis, this project is rife with "significant" adverse community, climate, and ecological impacts.  

See below these key impacts and what advocates are saying.

Details on key DEIR findings:  

1. Pellet plants in Tuolumne and Lassen Counties will conflict with the county's air quality plans. The Lassen facility will exceed air pollution control district limits for dangerous air pollutants like particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide. The Tuolumne County facility will exceed the annual threshold for CO. These impacts come with health risks: GSNR facility-induced individual cancer risk in Lassen is more than double CEQA's threshold of significance and in Tuolumne County  is more than four times than CEQA's threshold of significance  
2. The wood pellet storage and export terminal will create significant NOx impacts as well as cumulatively significant PM 2.5 impacts in an area already failing national standards for PM 2.5  
3. The DEIR proves that GSNR's project is inadequate and counterproductive for the goal of wildfire mitigation. The DEIR fails to demonstrate that the project would mitigate wildfire risk and improve forest resiliency. The proposed logging activity will occur largely in remote areas far from communities. Furthermore, while the DEIR claims the project would result in increased management of dense forests to address wildfire risk, it categorized only 27% of the project area's forests as "overcrowded" and an even smaller amount-15.5%-of the project area consists of high-density stands. Even more tellingly, ~90% of forests that would be "thinned" as part of the project are outside of high-density areas, where the DEIR states that treatment effects would be diminished.   
4. The entity carrying out this Project, Golden State Natural Resources (GNSR), plans to partner with Drax, a United Kingdom-based company that has a long track record of devastating forest ecosystems throughout North America.  
5. This project makes no sense as "climate mitigation" because it will release substantial climate heating greenhouse gas emissions at every stage, worsening the climate crisis. The project would significantly increase logging of California's forests, releasing their stored carbon at a time when we must increase forest protection and carbon storage. As admitted by the DEIR, the carbon emissions from this project would be significant and conflict with meeting California's climate goals.  

Here is what Advocates are saying:

Gloria Alonso Cruz, environmental justice advocacy coordinator with Little Manila Rising in Stockton:  "It is frustrating to see greenwashed projects like GSNR's Wood Pellet continue to list the community of Stockton as the only option to materialize false climate solutions and continue business as usual in a state designated Disadvantaged Community (DAC)that is already overburdened by air pollution and facing decades of unmet National Air Quality Standards. I fear that Stockton and the communities impacted by the project will see the same treatment that other places across the U.S. have received from the wood pellet industry."

Matt Holmes, project director for Valley Improvement Projects: "Cashing in on California forests GSNR's filthy trucks, trains and ocean going vessels will poison the unlucky overburdened communities that happen to lie between their pellet mills and the Port of Stockton all in the name of science free forest resilience. "  

Rita Vaughan Frost, Forest Advocate at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): "As if the biomass industry's sordid environmental history isn't alarming enough, the impact report that GSNR released speaks for itself: this project is an ineffective attempt at wildfire prevention and a health hazard to communities across Northern California. It's time to reject this project, protect California's forests from industrial-scale extraction, and dedicate our time and resources to real solutions that will safeguard communities from wildfires."

Gary Hughes, Biofuelwatch, Americas Program Coordinator: "As the deadline for written public comment passes we are reminded that public agencies like the California Air Resources Board explicitly requested that GSNR schedule adequate public meetings on the draft environmental documentation -- a course of action that GSNR refused to take. Despite the effort of GSNR to avoid public scrutiny, dozens of local, regional, statewide, national and international environmental and human rights stakeholders have made it clear that this wood pellet export scheme is a climate dead end." 

Mary Elizabeth, M.S., R.E.H.S., Delta-Sierra Group Conservation Chair, Sierra Club:  "The Golden State Natural Resources's wood pellet export project undermines California's climate and 30x30 goals. This wood export project will significantly harm local communities and forests, while moving us further away from environmental infrastructure that promotes equity and climate resilience. The DEIR failed to account for fire risks at the Port of Stockton, identifying utilities and regulatory agencies. The DEIR is another example of how Stocktonians are left to suffer from increased pollutant exposures that are "significant and unavoidable", as well as the other communities in Lassen and Tuolumne Counties."

Dan Howells, Climate Campaigns Director at Green America: "GSNR's environmental assessment shows much of what we already knew. Drax's industrial scale projects will hurt communities, destroy forests, and make climate change worse. And the overwhelming outcry from organizations and individuals shows that the public is seeing through the sales pitch from Drax and is telling California policy makers these projects must be rejected."

Shaye Wolf, Ph.D., climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity: "The devasting L.A. fires show it's vital that we invest in the wildfire safety solutions that work, and this project takes us in the wrong direction," said Shaye Wolf, Ph.D., climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This dirty wood pellet project would take away critical resources from home hardening and defensible space work, the solutions that best protect communities during wildfire. An extremely polluting industry that harms forests, communities and the climate can't be allowed to get a foothold in our state." 

Dr. Mary Booth, Director, Partnership for Policy Integrity: "The Golden State project is underpinned by the usual assortment of half-baked claims that logging wilderness areas is going to help the climate and reduce the threat of fire. Given the emergency California is facing, it's urgent to focus on measures that will actually protect communities." 

Maya Khosla, Sonoma County Climate Activist Network (SOCOCAN!): "California should be a leader in the race to replace fossil fuels, to address the climate crisis. Instead, the plan for GSNR facilities to produce about one million tons of pellets every year is ignoring the carbon emissions arising from logging, putting communities at risk everywhere along its destructive path, and doing nothing good for the climate. The false notion of carbon neutrality achieved by treating trees and other natural forest wood as "forest waste" is a loophole that benefits logging and polluting industries."  

Little Manila Rising(LMR) serves the South Stockton community, developing equitable solutions to the effects of historical marginalization, institutionalized racism, and harmful public policy. LMR offers a wide spectrum of programs that address education, environment, redevelopment, and public health. LMR values all people's unique and diverse experiences and wishes to see the residents of South Stockton enjoy healthy, prosperous lives.    

Valley Improvement Projects(VIP) strives to reach-out to low-income and working class communities, communities of color, immigrants, Spanish-speakers, LGBTQ community, religious minorities, indigenous communities, youth, elders, people with disabilities, houseless community, and many others who carry the extra burdens of our society.    

NRDC(Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).       

Biofuelwatchprovides information and undertakes advocacy and campaigning in relation to the climate, biodiversity, land and human rights and public health impacts of large-scale industrial bioenergy. We are a small team of staff and volunteers based in Europe and the USA.    

The Delta-Sierra Group of the Mother Lode Chapteris a regional unit of the Sierra Club that organizes outdoor activities and focuses attention on environmental issues. We all agree to practice the Sierra Club motto that you should "Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet."    

Green Americais the nation's leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems.    

The Center for Biological Diversityis a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.    

Partnership for Policy Integrity(PFPI) uses science, litigation, policy analysis and strategic communications to promote policies that protect climate, ecosystems, and people.    

SOCOCAN (www.SonomaCountyCan.ORG), is an umbrella for 50 organizations and 300 individuals.

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