Antionette McKay, with the Mississippi People’s Movement, stands with other protesters holding “Stop Drax” signs outside the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. The group gathered as state officials weighed a permit that would set new limits on how much pollution Drax can release into the air. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality permit board on Wednesday reversed a decision from earlier this year and granted wood pellet manufacturer Drax a permit that allows it to release more emissions from a facility in Gloster, in the rural southwestern corner of the state.
The board held a two-day evidentiary hearing after denying the company the permit in April. The permit falls under Title V of the Clean Air Act and allows Drax’s facility Amite BioEnergy, to become a “major source” of Hazardous Air Pollutants, or HAPs…