The simple truth is that halting the rapid and unnecessary expansion of the petrochemical...
Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographeran $85 million investment to fund advocacy groups fighting to keep petrochemical polluters out of their backyards.that curbing the rapid expansion of petrochemical plants would hurt progress toward more renewable energy and a cleaner environment.
This is a new and interesting argument from the fossil fuel industry. And if it sounds ludicrous, that’s because it is.As the world transitions to clean and renewable energy, oil and gas companies are increasingly looking for new places to sell their product. They won’t be able to sell as much gasoline so they’re trying to sell more plastic, paints, pesticides, fertilizers and other products made from oil and gas.
By 2050, petrochemical applications will account for nearly half of the growth in oil demand, according tofound this expansion would double emissions from the petrochemical and refinery industry to comprise 14.2 percent of the total U.S. “carbon budget,” or the maximum amount of cumulative CO2 emissions the U.S. can contribute from 2020 onward to preserve a 50 percent chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This does not sound like progress to us.
Texas is a hub of petrochemical manufacturing and one of a select number of states where that planned build-out is focused.are planned in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods that are already bearing the brunt of pollution and its associated health threats. This is not a new phenomenon. America is segregated and so is pollution. People who physically live on the “wrong side of the tracks” are subjected to a