Everyone has the right to live free from toxic air pollution, and thanks to the historic climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re moving toward a clean energy future with safer, healthier air.
But polluters aren’t going quietly. The fossil fuel industry is increasingly pivoting to petrochemicals, which are made from oil and gas and are found in many of our everyday products: plastics, fertilizers, paints and more.
Petrochemicals pose major risks to our health, our safety and the climate. But people don’t experience these risks equally: children, pregnant women and older adults are especially at risk of developing a host of health issues from exposure to this pollution, including cancer, respiratory illness, neurological problems and more.
And due in part to a legacy of discriminatory policies and unequal protection of environmental laws, the harms of this pollution fall most heavily on communities of color and low-income areas. Across our country, from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio River Valley to Washington, D.C., community advocates have been organizing for decades to fight for cleaner air. In Ivy City, a historically Black community in Washington, D.C., with the highest concentration of industrial land in the District, a chemical plant in the Northeast D.C. residential community operates without an air quality permit — a result of being “grandfathered in” to older, more lax rules that pre-date the Clean Air Act.
Better protections against toxic air pollution — grounded in science, not industry talking points—can help. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced standards strengthening limits on petrochemical pollution will help to lay the foundation to establish the basic protections we need to keep all communities safe from toxic air.
And as the chemicals industry doubles down on fossil fuels, it’s important not to get distracted by false solutions, like chemical or “advanced” recycling. But not only is this experimental technology inefficient and climate-intensive, it also generates toxic air pollution and hazardous waste in the process. So-called “advanced” recycling is not a pathway to sustainability or the solution to the global plastics crisis. We need real solutions that are grounded in science and protective of our health.
It’s essential for our leaders to hold petrochemical polluters accountable, and that the rules intended to keep us safe are rigorously enforced. All levels of government have a responsibility to work together to address health threats from petrochemical polluters so that all communities can thrive.
As global chemical corporations take advantage of local tax breaks and rake in record profits, they tell us it’s too costly to install basic safeguards to limit toxic pollution in the air. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t accept these tradeoffs as the cost of doing business.
The oil and gas industry’s pivot from fuels to petrochemicals and plastics is a choice to put profit over people’s health — a choice we don’t have to accept. As we move forward together toward a clean economy, we have the opportunity to build a safer, more equitable future for everyone. Let’s lift our voices in support of stronger protections against air pollution to safeguard public health, advance environmental justice and save lives.