Re “How green are these pellets?’’ (Metro, July 31): A handful of Massachusetts state energy officials aren’t the only New Englanders pushing bad biomass policies. When Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day, one of the issues it’s expected to take up is a federal energy bill that’s recently been tainted with a disastrous provision that would damage our climate and our forests.

The provision, authored by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and cosponsored by Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, and Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, would create a loophole that would allow trees burned for electricity to count as a carbon-free, clean energy source, just like wind or solar. But burning biomass from forests often pollutes more than coal. The legislation would dictate faulty science for the benefit of a single industry.

With a board of respected scientists currently helping the government determine the carbon-pollution profile of various wood-based fuels, the provision also would undermine an important, science-based process.

New England senators must help fix the energy bill. Failure to remove the harmful provisions would be a slap in the face for science-based policy making, and a big step backward for our climate and our forests.

Sami Yassa

Senior scientist

Natural Resources Defense Council

Kittery Point, Maine