petrochemicals
Credit: Chesapeake Bay Program/Flickr
Why Michael Regan backed down on environmental justice promises
Despite a promising start, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Regan has faced setbacks in tackling environmental racism due to political and legal pressures.
In short:
- Michael Regan's initial push to address environmental racism in areas like Cancer Alley was met with hope from affected communities.
- Legal battles and political backlash, especially from conservative groups, have forced the EPA to scale back its civil rights investigations.
- The fight over environmental justice has become a battleground for broader racial and political issues, with Regan walking a fine line between progress and caution.
Key quote:
“It’s worrisome that there are certain interests in this country that are trying to take power away from the very folks that need protection from environmental injustices.”
— Michael Regan, EPA administrator
Why this matters:
The environmental and health stakes here are high — marginalized communities continue to bear the brunt of pollution, and without decisive action, the systemic racism baked into environmental policy persists. Read more: New EPA regulations mean a closer eye on the nation’s petrochemical hub.
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California takes ExxonMobil to court over decades of plastic pollution deception
In a landmark lawsuit, California has accused ExxonMobil of fueling the global plastic pollution crisis while misleading the public about recycling's effectiveness.
In short:
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges that ExxonMobil's decades-long campaign deceived the public about the recyclability of plastics, contributing to environmental harm.
- The lawsuit claims that Exxon’s "advanced recycling" is a misleading concept, as only a small percentage of plastic is actually recycled.
- Exxon argues California’s own recycling system failures are to blame and defends its chemical recycling efforts.
Key quote:
“This is the single most consequential lawsuit filed against the plastics industry for its persistent and continued lying about plastics recycling,”
— Judith Enck, president of the group Beyond Plastics
Why this matters:
California’s legal showdown with ExxonMobil represents a fundamental reckoning over the decades of plastic promises that have turned out to be empty. For years, ExxonMobil and other oil giants sold us on the fantasy that recycling would save us from drowning in plastic waste, while continuing to churn out more and more of the stuff. Read more: Chemical recycling has an economic and environmental injustice problem.
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Op-ed: Is plastic the biggest climate threat?
A plastics treaty for the climate and health must address overproduction of plastics and head off the petrochemical and plastic industry’s planned expansion.
As people from around the world are gathering in New York for the UN-sponsored Climate Week, it is past time the world focused on the threats to climate from plastics.
For decades the fossil fuel industry has rightly been a target for climate action. It was major news last year when the UN climate change conference for the first time in decades agreed on calling for a transition away from fossil fuels. But many missed the loophole in that statement: fossil-fuel producing countries only agreed to this language with the caveat that the transition would be away from fossil fuels “in energy systems.” The agreement says nothing about moving away from fossil fuels for plastics or chemicals.
With the rapid rise of electric cars and other electrification technologies, the oil and gas industry is looking to plastics and the chemicals that go into plastics as their primary new markets. Many people don’t know that plastics are made from oil and gas mixed with chemicals, mostly petrochemicals that are also produced from fossil fuels. Plastics are the industry’s golden goose and they are gearing up for a massive expansion in production. A recent report noted that Chevron, Shell, and oil-producing nations are responding to predictions about the decline of their industry with large investments in petrochemical and plastic production. They believe their future is plastics.
But scientists are warning that more plastics means more threats to the climate. A study from the U.S. government’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory earlier this year found that greenhouse gas emissions from plastics could triple by mid-century, accounting for 20% of the remaining carbon budget before planetary disruptions become unbearable. Other researchers have found that pollution from plastics and chemicals has already exceeded the “planetary boundaries” for sustaining life on Earth. Some say more recycling will fix the plastics problem, but plastic recycling has remained at less than 10% globally for decades and because plastics are made with toxic chemicals, recycling simply spreads these chemicals to new products.
Despite the climate agreement’s call to “transition away” from fossil fuels, the industry is aiming to triple plastics production by 2050. This means increasing fossil fuels extraction and petrochemical production, with the attendant and potentially disastrous climate, health, and environmental consequences.
In the Arctic, we see the consequences of the fossil fuels, petrochemicals, and plastics industry daily. Our recent report noted that the Arctic is a “hemispheric sink” where plastic pollution from around the world accumulates, leaching toxic chemicals that threaten the climate, food security, our health, and the environment. The report demonstrates how chemicals, plastics, and climate change are interrelated and have combined to poison lands, waters, and traditional foods of Arctic Indigenous Peoples, with ongoing health effects that threaten their cultures and communities.
In Indonesia and around the Global South, the industry is promoting a buildup of fossil fuels, plastics, and chemicals production as well as toxic plastic waste disposal technologies, like incineration and chemical recycling, that create significant greenhouse gases and toxic emissions. Already, evidence shows that unmanageable plastic waste around the world threatens the climate and causes toxic contamination of the air, water, and food chain, especially for people living close to waste dumps, incinerators, and plastic recycling facilities.
Increasing production of plastics derived from fossil fuels will not only threaten the climate but also our health. A recent study found that more than 4,200 chemicals used in plastics are known to be “highly hazardous” to health or the environment, and thousands more plastic chemicals have never been tested for safety. Chemicals common in plastics are linked to cancer, impacts on brain development and behavior, infertility, low sperm count, reduced testosterone and estrogen levels, impacts on neurodevelopment and IQ-performance, immune system damage, and endocrine disruption, among other health concerns.
While the U.N. Climate Week is in the spotlight, the world is also in the process of negotiating another significant climate pact, the U.N. Plastics Treaty, a global agreement aimed at addressing the plastics crisis. Given the stakes, the Treaty should be considered a climate and health agreement that addresses the climate and toxic threats throughout the life cycle of plastics. We must understand plastics as a mixture of carbon (fossil fuels) and chemicals and address the climate and health consequences when fossil fuels are extracted to make plastics, when petrochemicals for plastics are produced, when plastic production and disposal threatens nearby communities, and when plastic products pose risks to consumers.
In short, a Plastics Treaty for the climate and health must address overproduction of plastics and head off the petrochemical and plastic industry’s planned expansion. To miss this opportunity to rein in these polluting, toxic industries could have disastrous consequences for generations to come.
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Credit: Danielle Villasana/The Texas Tribune
EHN reporting collaboration wins Lion Publishing Award
The bilingual Altavoz Lab investigation documented failures of the Texas state air monitoring system and increased community awareness of pollution linked to Houston’s petrochemical industry.
An investigation co-produced by Environmental Health News into toxic pollution in communities along the Houston Ship Channel has won a Lion Publishing Sustainability Award award for best collaboration.
The story, produced by the Altavoz Lab, EHN, palabra and The Texas Tribune, focuses on the community of Cloverleaf, one of many along the the 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel that suffers from poor air quality. The ship channel is home to more than 200 petrochemical facilities that process fossil fuels into plastics, fertilizers and pesticides. Emissions pose significant health risks to the community.
Texas Tribune reporter Alejandra Martinez and freelance journalist Wendy Selene Pérez, both Altavoz Lab environmental fellows, spent months reporting from the community. They found that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s air monitoring system fails to measure some dangerous pollutants from nearby petrochemical plants, and provides air quality information to the public in formats that are difficult to understand – and often only in English. The information disparity leaves Latino-majority communities like Cloverleaf guessing about the safety of their air.
For this bilingual investigation, EHN partnered with the Altavoz Lab, a project that supports and mentors local journalists of color working in community publications. Environmental Health Sciences, the publisher of EHN, is a partner and one of the funders of the Altavoz Lab’s Environmental Fellowship. The project received additional support from the Pulitzer Center.
A month after the story was published, the reporters returned to Cloverleaf to ensure that those most affected by their reporting could make use of it. They met residents in laundromats, grocery stores and on the street, sharing both the story and easy-to-understand bilingual postcards explaining the health risks and ways people can protect themselves. In August, the reporters held community workshops centered around their reporting.
“This kind of intensive outreach represents a broader shift in the way forward-looking news organizations are thinking about community engagement and their responsibilities to the people whose stories they are sharing," Autumn Spanne, manager of EHN’s bilingual content, said. “It’s no longer adequate to parachute into a community, extract information and share it in ways that aren’t accessible to those most affected. You have to reach people where they are — just as Martinez and Pérez did.”
Lion stands for Local Independent Online News. The Lion Awards recognize outstanding local journalism centered on the organization’s three pillars of sustainability: operational resilience, financial health and journalistic impact. Univisión and the local news site La Esquina Texas republished the story in Spanish. An audio version of the story was also produced for Radio Bilingüe. These local and national partnerships extended the project’s reach.
“A lot of the credit for kickstarting the collaboration really goes to Alejandra Martínez and Wendy Selene Pérez who make up a formidable team reporting on the ground and getting even closer to their community,” said Valeria Fernández, Altavoz Lab’s founder. “There’s a lot that local journalists have to teach us about how we can work together as publications.”
“Through its collaboration with Environmental Health News, Altavoz Lab has created a model for operational partnership that goes beyond providing a fellowship,” judges said of the collaboration. “The organizations worked together to boost the impact of the fellows’ project by coordinating participating organizations that provided editorial, audience, and funding support.”
Read, listen and watch the Altavoz Lab story in English and in Spanish.
Subscribe to EHN’s weekly newsletter in Spanish, and our daily Above the Fold newsletter in English.
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EPA shuts down deceptive recycling claims in plastics industry
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cracked down on the plastics industry’s use of misleading accounting methods to inflate recycled content claims, marking a significant federal move to curb greenwashing in product labeling.
In short:
- The EPA's new policy prohibits the plastics industry from using the mass balance method to falsely advertise recycled content in products.
- Products labeled with the “Safer Choice” endorsement must now contain at least 15% post-consumer recycled content, calculated by weight.
- This decision is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to tackle plastic pollution and promote truthful labeling.
Key quote:
“This is the turning point” that will allow us to start killing the “hoax” of mass balance.
— Jan Dell, founder of The Last Beach Cleanup
Why this matters:
The EPA’s move means that any products endorsed under its "Safer Choice" label must now meet stricter, more transparent standards. This is a win for consumers who care about making genuinely sustainable choices and a signal that the government won't tolerate such corporate sleight of hand. Read more: Recycling plastics “extremely problematic” due to toxic chemical additives.
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Houston’s plan for plastic recycling faces major hurdles and fire hazards
The ambitious Houston Recycling Collaboration, aimed at addressing plastic waste, is stalling as unprocessed plastic piles up at a site with multiple fire code violations and no state approval.
James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News and CBS News.
In short:
- Plastic waste from Houston's advanced recycling program has been piling up for over a year at a facility with multiple failed fire inspections.
- The chemical recycling process promoted by the city and corporate partners has yet to be implemented, with major safety and environmental concerns mounting.
- Industry partners are distancing themselves from the project, questioning its legality and safety.
Key quote:
“Five acres of paper and plastic piled up with little or no fire suppression: What could go wrong?”
— Richard Meier, private fire investigator
Why this matters:
As the plastic waste accumulates, so do concerns over environmental health and the effectiveness of so-called 'advanced' recycling methods. For a city that wants to set the standard, the reality is proving far more complicated—and messy—than anyone anticipated. Read more: What is chemical recycling?
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Credit: Ministry of Environment - Rwanda/Flickr
Behind closed doors: Civil society groups excluded from key global treaty talks on plastic pollution
This week’s global treaty talks on plastic pollution in Bangkok have sparked outrage as environmentalists and affected communities are locked out of the negotiations, raising concerns about transparency and the future strength of the treaty.
In short:
- Environmentalists, tribal leaders, and community members from areas impacted by plastic pollution are excluded from crucial talks in Bangkok.
- The United Nations cites procedural rules for the exclusion, but critics worry this could lead to a weaker treaty.
- Some nations, like Uruguay and the Philippines, are including nonprofits in their delegations to ensure diverse representation.
Key quote:
“I didn’t think it would go to this extreme, with really limited participation. It’s taking away our ability to fully participate and come up with meaningful solutions.”
— Frankie Orona, executive director of the Society of Native Nations in Texas
Why this matters:
As key voices sound the alarm on being sidelined, the question looms: How effective can a treaty be if those most affected by plastic pollution aren’t even at the table? Read more: Plastics treaty draft underway, but will the most impacted countries be included?
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