Activists hack central Leeds billboard to expose Drax pollution

Axe Drax activists ‘hacked’ a central Leeds billboard exposing Drax’s deadly pollution in the Southern US. The billboard reads ‘”I Can’t Breathe” Drax Biomass Chokes Black Lives’. This is a quote from a community member regarding Drax’s pollution and environmental racism in the Southern US.

Police returned the billboard in 2025, after seizing it during the £3m policing operation to prevent the planned climate climate camp against Drax in 2024. Finally it sees the light of day.

Drax operations in Mississippi

The activists took over the central Leeds billboard, replacing it with a design highlighting the injustices caused by Drax’s pellet production operations.

Drax has faced repeated accusations of driving environmental racism in the Southern US, having violated environmental regulations over 18,000 times. It has been the target of multiple multi-million dollar fines for violating air pollution. And now it’s up against a lawsuit from residents of Gloster, Mississippi. Gloster is home to the Drax Amite BioEnergy wood pellet production plant.

Wood pellet production is highly polluting. It releases toxic volatile organic compounds and particulate matter linked to asthma, cancer and heart disease. Residents report relying on costly breathing machinery to survive and children being unable to play outside due to the high levels of dust and air pollution.

In October in a letter signed by 85 UK organisations urged the Mississippi Governor to reject Drax’s application to raise their allowed levels of pollution. Despite the initial rejection of the permit in April 2025, in October Mississippi ruled in Drax’s favour.

Rosie Gloster, Axe Drax co-founder, said:

Drax’s deadly pollution cannot be ignored. We’ve seen Drax spend millions on greenwashing their tree-burning poison, it’s past time that the truth of what Drax is doing is laid out in clear view.

Drax is poisoning poor, rural, Black communities in the name of profit for their executives and we’re all being forced to foot the bill. The reality of Drax’s operations is simple: people can’t breathe.

We stand in full solidarity with all resisting Drax’s deadly business.

Michelle Tylicki, the original artist, said:

There are more ways to choke Black lives than a knee to the neck.

I made this artwork after hearing the words “I Can’t Breathe” from Black folks in Mississippi, who are having difficulties breathing from the cancer-causing air pollution of Drax’s wood pellet factories surrounding their homes.

During production, in these “Sacrifice Zones”, Drax releases illegal levels of toxic, cancer-causing particles, disproportionately affecting poor Black communities.

Everything about Drax is toxic. From their perfidious greenwashing to their life-threatening pollution.

Black Lives Matter: Drax is UK-sanctioned environmental racism.

Featured image via Axe Drax