PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Often touted as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, wood pellets are rapidly increasing in popularity across the globe, but little is known about the environmental health impacts of pellet manufacturing in surrounding communities.
To address that knowledge gap, a new million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will support a study of emissions from wood pellet plants in Mississippi and how they affect the health of people, especially children, who live in the area.
According to Erica Walker, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health and principal investigator on the new federal grant, the work represents the first study of wood pellet plant emissions on human health in the United States. The team will receive up to $5.8 million in support over five years.
The grant proposal notes that there are currently 91 wood pellet production plants in the U.S., with 75% of production occurring in the rural South. Mississippi is home to seven large plants, four fully operational and three in various stages of development. Walked said that similar to fossil fuel refineries, wood pellet plants are more than twice as likely to be located in predominantly Black and poor communities, Walker said.
“It is fascinating — but not surprising — that predominantly Black and poor communities across Mississippi are being asked to undergird the shift to renewable and sustainable energy production,” Walker said. “When these large wood pellet companies move into these communities, they are bringing with them environmental externalities, which may negatively impact the towns and cities nearby. This award provides us with the opportunity to actually spell out what these environmental externalities are and to what extent they may negatively impact the health and well-being of the surrounding community.”
A collaborative team including Walker and researchers from the nonprofit Greater Greener Gloster Project, the University of Mississippi and Drexel University will study emissions from the pellet industry in Mississippi. They will focus on noise, particulate matter, black carbon, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and volatile organic compounds.
Over five years, the team will quantify the health impacts of wood pellet manufacturing in three types of communities: those with an operational wood pellet plant, those with a proposed wood pellet plant, and those with no wood pellet plants and no (or limited) industrial manufacturing.
The researchers will conduct a combined noise and air pollution assessment and will use those measurements to analyze the plants’ impacts on children’s respiratory health and stress. The project team will also provide research training for Mississippi-based high school, community college, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as older adults, so that they can stay informed about any industry effects on their local communities.
“Mississippi's children rank 49th in overall child well-being according to a recent Kids Count report,” Walker said. “I am excited about being able to consider the exposome (air, noise, water, visual and soil) pollution and follow the health of these young children until adulthood.”
The work is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award No. 1R01ES036565-01.
Read more about the project on the Brown University School of Public Health website.