Guest Commentary written by

Matt Dias

Matt Dias is president and CEO of Calforests, an association representing the forestry products industry

Re: Biomass is a money pit that won’t solve California’s energy or wildfire problems

Shaye Wolf is right about one thing: California has affordable clean energy options like solar and wind. But her op-ed ignores an urgent, critical reality on the ground: we are in a wildfire crisis and California is drowning in hazardous forest waste with nowhere to put it.

Biomass energy is not about cutting healthy forests or replacing solar and wind. It’s about the fact that California is in a wildfire emergency, and the state faces a dangerous accumulation of forest fuels with limited safe disposal options. Policy decisions must reflect this operational and public-safety reality, not just theoretical comparisons among energy sources.

Evaluating biomass solely on cost per megawatt-hour or facility-level emissions misunderstands its role in a fire-prone landscape. The relevant policy choice is not biomass versus other renewables, but whether unavoidable forest material is handled through controlled, regulated facilities or disposed of through open burning, piling, or unsafe accumulation near communities and infrastructure.