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The Daily Tar Heel

Don’t smoke the trees: Duke Energy shouldn’t be able to count healthy trees as ‘waste wood’ in its renewable energy efforts

Duke Energy intends to burn trees to help run two of its energy plants. And by doing so, the company can qualify as a renewable-energy facility.



This is wrong.



Duke Energy wants to register its Buck Steam Station in Salisbury and its Lee Steam Station in Williamston, S.C. as renewable-energy facilities because the company intends to use wood as a type of biomass fuel.



The company, in its application for renewable energy certificates, indicated that it used trees cleared from Duke Energy’s own land.



State law mandates that 12.5 percent of Duke Energy’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2021.



Renewable resources explicitly mentioned in the law include solar power and pig waste. But one clause mentions the use of “wood waste.” This includes wood chippings, sawdust, old stumps and unused two-by-fours.



This should absolutely exclude fresh, living trees.



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The state legislature must clarify what it means by “wood waste.” Using Duke Energy’s interpretation, this could lead to the clearing of N.C. forests.



And deforestation could become a major issue. After all, there is no law on the books in North Carolina that mandates that the trees be replanted upon removal.



The Southern Environmental Law Center and other wood-burning opponents have pushed the N.C. Utilities Commission to a hold a hearing on the matter.



But that’s not good enough. Power companies should not be able to hold our forests hostage.



Even the N.C. Environmental Management Commission agrees. In a recent report to the General Assembly, the commission asserted that the legislature must clarify the wood-burning definition.