‘Everything is worse since Drax came here’ – activists occupy Drax’s head office unfurling ‘Drax Kills’ banner

Activists have crashed Drax’s head office in London demanding justice for communities suffering severe health consequences from the company’s pellet producing operations abroad. Activists unfurled a banner reading ‘Drax Kills’ and occupied the office lobby until security removed them.

Drax in Mississippi

The occupation follows a damning report published yesterday in the Guardian, detailing the suffering experienced by residents of Gloster, Mississippi living under the shadow of Drax’s pellet mill.

As Drax celebrates its 10 year anniversary of operating its Gloster, Mississippi pellet plant, residents of Gloster are suing the company over air pollution and the associated severe health issues caused by wood pellet production.

Over the last 10 years Drax has paid nearly $3m in fines since the facility opened and racked up nearly $6m in violations for its operations in Mississippi and Louisiana over the past four years.

The company has been repeatedly accused of driving environmental racism by siting its pellet mills next to majority-Black communities with high poverty rates in Louisiana and Mississippi, where they have exceeded the legal emission limits for air pollutants linked to cancer, breathing difficulties, and other health effects.

In April 2025, after strong community resistance and powerful testimony residents of Gloster won a victory in getting the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to reject a permit application from Drax, which would have raised its pollution permit from a minor to a major source of Hazardous Air Pollutants. In October 2025 Drax appealed this decision and were ultimately successful in raising their permitted pollution levels.

UK government funding

Drax has received over £7bn in green subsidies since 2012 and the UK government recently announced plans to extend subsidies for the power station by another £2bn by the end of the decade despite the fact that Drax is the UK’s single largest emitter of carbon dioxide with a history of misreporting the sustainability of its wood pellet sourcing.

Molly Brown, who took part in the occupation said:

I find it a complete disgrace that my energy bills are going to propping up Drax and their poisonous pollution. In Gloster children are suffering from asthma, unable to play outside while elderly residents rely on expensive medication to survive.

This community wouldn’t be suffering in this way if it wasn’t for Drax’s deadly operations. It doesn’t matter how much Drax spends on lobbying or PR, they can’t hide the fact that Drax kills.

Rosie Gloster said:

Drax’s claims of being a ‘good neighbour’ couldn’t be further from the truth. This is a company that’s sacrificing Black lives for profit, that’s sacrificing their own workers here in the UK – all to keep scamming the British public out of their hard earned money.

Rather than stopping their illegal pollution, Drax just lobbied to legalise their poison. Drax’s operations are killing people, and it’s past time they were shut down.

Featured image via Axe Drax