A Mississippi community takes on a U.K. energy giant over pollution concerns
During the last weeks of July, a handful of residents from Gloster, a majority-Black, low-income community in southwest Mississippi, prepared for a meeting with Drax Group, a U.K.-based energy company that operates a wood pellet production plant in the small town.
During the last weeks of July, a handful of residents from Gloster, a majority-Black, low-income community in southwest Mississippi, prepared for a meeting with Drax Group, a U.K.-based energy company that operates a wood pellet production plant in the small town.
The residents planned to present the company with a list of demands meant to address their concerns about the plant’s industrial pollution. Priority items on the list included installing air quality monitors within a quarter-mile of the facility and requiring the plant to cease operations during nighttime hours, per Gloster’s noise ordinances.
But the meeting, like the one before it scheduled for June 2022, was canceled by the company.
“We weren’t really expecting them to answer any of our questions anyways,” said Krystal Martin, a Gloster native and a community leader. “We just want to see action from Drax.”
In an email statement to NBC News, Alex Schott, head of Drax North America communications, said the meeting was canceled due to “an unexpected scheduling clash.”
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