Three years ago, two big new wood-pellet manufacturing plants were proposed along the Washington coast — the first of their kind in the Pacific Northwest. The British utility Drax planned a facility in Longview next to the Columbia River. Another company, Pacific Northwest Renewable Energy Project, proposed a similar plant in Hoquiam, Grays Harbor County. These plans are now unraveling. Last year,  Drax suspended work on its Longview plant , citing weak demand for wood pellets it planned to export to overseas power plants. The year before, Enviva, Drax’s biggest competitor in the global wood pellet trade, declared bankruptcy because it couldn’t competitively deliver wood pellets to Asian markets. What we’re learning is the wood pellet industry can’t compete without extensive subsidies.…