The US agriculture secretary has said the UK could take more US wood pellets as biomass amid ongoing trade talks.
Brooke Rollins told reporters the US is '100% confident' that the country's wood chips adhere to UK sustainability requirements.
Rollins met with UK energy secretary Ed Miliband and energy minister Michael Shanks on 13 May. Her visit to London saw her promoting agricultural produce - including US wood pellets.
This is despite ongoing questions surrounding the actual sustainability of the biomass sector.
In particular, Drax, which is subsidised by the UK taxpayer, has come under scrutiny on several occasions.
On being asked about allegations that some pellets come from ancient woodlands in the US, she said: “We are 100% confident that it does meet your sustainability requirements here in this country.”
She added: “Yesterday, that was one of the key things that I spoke to Secretary Miliband and Under Secretary Shanks about … and they agreed – I don’t want to get ahead of them – but in that meeting, they felt fully assured that what we are doing in America does meet your sustainability requirements.
“And in fact, we could potentially be opening up more markets for our wood pellets into the UK, as other countries that you’re importing here into this country, are clearly not meeting those marks.”
US agriculture secretary is ‘100% confident’ that exported biomass meets UK requirements
