Right in the centre - It doesn't make sense

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Published on Thursday, July 18, 2024

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

I have been accumulating a number of things in my mind that don’t make sense. I am sure you could add many more to the list

A recent report notes that B.C. produces more wood pellets than any other Canadian province, and production is “dominated” by a U.K.-based company Drax, which owns the world’s single-largest wood-burning facility. Drax also owns, or partially owns, eight of B.C’s 12 pellet mills and is responsible for 80 per cent of the province’s exports. Anther report noted that Drax gets paid a huge subsidy from the British government to burn these pellets to make steam to make electricity. Why? Because the government has decided that wood pellets are better than coal. Really? Britain produces coal so how can wood chips make more sense than coal when the trees have to be cut, the wood has to be chipped, then pelleted. The pellets have to be trucked to a railhead, shipped by rail to a seaport, shipped by sea to England, unloaded and then put into a huge furnace to make steam so an electrical generator can make electricity. Now please tell me why that makes sense? 

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