Pruitt declares biomass carbon neutral in major hit to climate

Scott Pruitt today declared the burning of trees for energy as carbon neutral.

“Saying that burning trees is clean energy is just another dirty lie from Scott Pruitt and the Trump administration,” said Glenn Hurowitz, Mighty Earth CEO. “Pruitt and Trump love coal, so of course they’d fall for an energy source that’s even dirtier.”

Pruitt’s decision today ignores the science that burning biomass for energy releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, worsening the climate crisis and clearing valuable forests for short-term energy use. Mighty Earth Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman wrote an op-ed on this topic and Mighty also released a report with the Sierra Club analyzing the environmental impacts of a proposed biomass plant in Oregon.