Whether it be massive forest land or the average yard, when trees come down, the ground below fills with waste.

"The amount of methane it produces sitting on the forest floor or sitting in a landfill is huge compared to the amount of oxygen a tree gives off over its lifetime,” Justin Elliot of Bill Elliott & Sons Tree Service said.

That's why Elliott, the co-owner of Bill Elliott and Son's Tree Service and Adams Center, says it's critically important to get that waste off the forest ground and into a place like his business, where they can turn it into something useful.

“The tree service trucks come in with all the waste wood and it get sorted based on logs, firewood, whatever we can, you know, harvest and then all of the junk wood, the waste goes into this big grinder. A loader pushes up to it and we just make it a fine particle sized," Elliott added.

Particles that Elliott's is able to sell to Fort Drum's biomass plant. The facility takes that wood waste and is able to convert it into energy, enough energy to power the entire installation.

“This is a 60-megawatt facility that is pumping energy into our area currently,” State Senator Mark Walczyk said.

Walczyk is one of many elected officials who are joining Elliott in calling New York state's decision to remove biomass from the list of renewable energies eligible for tax credits for the companies that use it, a giant mistake.

It affects companies like ReEnergy who run that plant on Fort Drum, a company now saying it can no longer afford to keep the doors open without that tax credit.

“I don't think it gets any more renewable. It's a wood product. And what we do, it's 100% waste. It's a very low-grade material. It has no other value for pulp or anything like that. It's the bottom of the food chain and the logging industry,” Elliott added.

However, those that do support New York's decision, say that biomass is, in part, leading to the destruction of New York state forests, as well as releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide into the air.

But no matter what side of the fence you sit on, there is no debating that a couple of hundred jobs from Fort Drum's energy plant could soon be gone. And that does not include the number of jobs from the outside companies like Bill Elliot & Sons Tree Service.

“So we have 11 employees right now, and it will affect two guys in our yard. If ReEnergy's not open to truck to then those guys will get laid off,” Elliott added.

A decision he says he is truly hoping to not have to make. ReEnergy says the Fort Drum plant will close by the end of the month.

Walczyk has been joined by local state representatives, along with U.S. senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, in pressing New York state to change its mind.