How Clean Energy Tax Breaks Could Fuel a US Wood Burning Boom [Video]

Businesses that burn wood to produce energy have struggled in the United States to compete economically, even as wood-pellet exports to Europe from states like Alabama and North Carolina have soared with overseas subsidies.

But the industry’s domestic fortunes could soon change.

With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) designed to take on climate change through billions of dollars of direct appropriations or tax breaks, forest biomass-to-energy could potentially see sizable growth domestically. 

In response, environmental groups worry the U.S. might be about to follow Europe down its controversial path of burning wood to generate electricity as part of a renewable energy policy, despite a lot of scientists having concluded the practice is worse for the climate than burning coal.

The Biden administration, including the U.S. Treasury Department, is now navigating competing claims about the risks and benefits of burning wood to the climate and to the health of forests. Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service will have a key role to play …