Plastics Are Fossil Fuel Industry’s Plan B. Fenceline Communities Pay the Price.
Just this past January, new studies found huge numbers of plastic particles in bottled water and microplastics in nearly 90 percent of sampled proteins like beef and tofu. These reports follow many others that have found microplastics and nanoplastics in nearly every crevice of our world: clouds and rivers, Arctic sea ice and sea mammals, heart tissue and breast milk and even placentas.
Oil and Gas Job Promises Out of Reach for People of Color
There’s an unspoken promise when an industry moves into any community: We will disrupt your lives, but in exchange we will provide good-paying jobs. Except, according to new research shared exclusively with Floodlight, in Louisiana’s majority Black communities in the area known as “Cancer Alley,” because of its high concentration of polluting industries, the majority of jobs go to white workers. Similar disparities occur in minority-dominant communities along Texas’ Gulf Coast, where the majority of workers are white.
Plastic's Health Impacts Are Becoming Impossible To Ignore
Plastic has been creeping into our food, our air, our water, and our bodies for decades now, with most people blissfully unaware of its presence and health risks. But two catastrophes in the past six months suddenly made it impossible to ignore how plastic affects Americans' lives, health, and future. The catastrophes I'm referring to are the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment and the smoke from Canadian wildfires that enveloped U.S. cities for days. If you're not already aware—and many aren't—these two moments have everything to do with plastic. Let me explain.
‘The Poison Plastic’: Why Calls Are Growing for a Ban on PVC
A toxic train derailment in Ohio has forced an uncomfortable conversation in the US. The pollution and response to the accident was bad enough for local residents, but black and lower-income communities face the effects of America’s dirty plastic industry on a daily basis.
A New Research Review Describes Plastics, ‘From Cradle to Grave,’ as a Toxics Crisis and Says the UN Must Act to Limit Production
Chemicals found in plastics cause cancer, disrupt hormones, harm human reproductive systems and lead to obesity and diabetes, the Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Human Health finds.
Plant Explosion Leaves Town With Fear of Lead Exposure and Few Answers
Nearly a month after a metal-manufacturing plant exploded in the Cleveland suburb of Oakwood Village, Ohio, community health advocates say they still don’t have clear answers to the urgent question of whether the blast released harmful levels of lead into the area. They’re also questioning why those living and working near the blast weren’t quickly informed that lead in the facility could pose a risk.
‘Wakeup Call’: Braintree Chemical Fire, Ohio Derailment Show Need for Stronger Emergency Planning, Experts Say
Government officials don’t pay enough attention to preventing accidents due to a lack of funding devoted to such efforts, said Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator now president of environmental advocacy group Beyond Plastics. And communication around evacuation plans is an issue across the nation, she said. Almost 124 million people, or 39 percent of the US population, live within 3 miles of a hazardous facility, according to the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters.
How to ‘Make Some Good’ Out of East Palestine, Ohio, Rail Disaster? Ban Vinyl Chloride, Former EPA Official Says
Outrage over last month’s Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, continued this week as former regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator Judith Enck called on the agency to ban vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical at the center of the disaster.
East Palestine Toxic Train Crash Shows Plastics Industry Toll on Planet. Will U.S. Ban Vinyl Chloride?
Five weeks after the Norfolk Southern toxic train derailment and so-called controlled burn that blanketed the town with a toxic brew of at least six hazardous chemicals and gases, senators grilled the CEO of Norfolk Southern over the company’s toxic train derailment. The company has evaded calls to cover healthcare costs as residents continue to report headaches, coughing, fatigue, irritation and burning of the skin.
Former EPA Regional Administrator Critical of Response to East Palestine Toxic Train Derailment
Allegations of missteps and mistakes in the federal EPA’s response to the East Palestine toxic train derailment are coming from someone who’s been in the agency’s top ranks. The criticism comes as mistrust and anger linger in and around the village. More than a month after a dark chemical plume billowed over East Palestine, there are signs of resilience. But there are also high demands for baseline medical tests and water many people want to trust to drink.
Why Is the E.P.A. So Timid in the East Palestine Train Disaster?
When a Norfolk Southern train carrying nearly 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, last month, local officials made a pivotal decision: to drain the highly toxic chemical into a ditch and set it on fire in a “controlled burn” to avoid a catastrophic explosion. Officials didn’t mention that the plume could rain dioxins and other enduring poisons down on the community and others downwind. And two days after the burn, residents in the one-by-two-mile evacuation zone were allowed back into their homes — before any testing for dioxins and other contaminants on the surfaces inside had been done.
Op-ed: Beignets, Coffee and Petrochemicals
Though Black History Month is coming to an end, let’s continue to amplify the voices of fenceline communities fighting toxic pollution.
Did Dioxins Spread After the Ohio Train Derailment?
After a catastrophic 38-train car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some officials are raising concerns about a type of toxic substance that tends to stay in the environment.
The East Palestine Disaster Was a Direct Result of the Country’s Reliance on Fossil Fuels and Plastic
The hazardous chemicals being transported by the derailed train — including vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen — are used to make PVC, the world’s third most used type of plastic.
Former EPA Official Breaks Down Ohio Train Derailment
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration, joined Errol Louis on "Inside City Hall" Thursday to discuss how she thinks officials should respond to the situation in East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed earlier this month, threatening the safety of residents.
This “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk
Almost half of products cleared so far under the new federal biofuels program are not in fact biofuels — and the EPA acknowledges that the plastic-based ones may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment.
One Planet: The Norfolk Southern Ohio Train Derailment Reveals the Dangers of Plastic Production
On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we discuss the environmental and health impacts of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and our growing reliance on plastics. Derailed train cars were carrying several petrochemicals, including vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen. Vinyl chloride exposure is associated with an increased risk of a rare form of liver cancer, primary liver cancer, brain and lung cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia, according to the National Cancer Institute.
On the Frontlines in a ‘Cancer Alley,’ Black Women Inspired by Faith Are Powering the Environmental Justice Movement
Religious belief has been central to the movement since its start. Sharon Lavigne, a 70-year-old grandmother in Louisiana taking on the plastics industry, is hailed as “a modern-day prophet.”
Opinion: This Deadly Chemical Should Be Banned
Like a scene out of some postapocalyptic movie, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio convened a news conference on Feb. 5 to deliver a stark warning. “We are ordering them to leave,” he said of residents of the small rural community of East Palestine, Ohio, and a neighboring part of Pennsylvania. “This is a matter of life and death.” To emphasize the point, he added: “Those in the red area are facing grave danger of death if they are still in that area.”
The Ohio Derailment Lays Bare the Hellish Plastic Crisis
The plastic crisis looks like a sperm whale filling up its stomach with bags. It looks like cucumbers and bananas—which have perfectly good skins of their own—wrapped in single-use plastic. But before all that, it looks like a burning train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio.