Preserving Sustainability Initiatives against Industrial Petrochemical Dependence

Petrochemicals are expected to drive world oil demand for the next several decades as global initiatives try to switch to clean energy and transportation.

FREMONT, CA: Oil and gas companies are attempting to secure their profits as we move toward zero emissions and 100 percent renewable energy, relying heavily on petrochemicals to make up the difference. The hazardous compounds derived from oil and gas manufacture plastics, industrial chemicals, and pesticides.

The industry is preparing to develop several petrochemical factories in the United States. Numerous facilities are slated for low-income and racialized neighborhoods already overwhelmed by pollution and a long history of environmental injustice. If the development proceeds, it will trap additional harmful substances that damage our communities, plastic garbage, and climate change.

Increasing adoption of petrochemicals by investor-owned oil and gas companies: Investor-owned oil and gas companies are attempting to switch to petrochemicals to sell off an excess of cheap oil and fracked gas and increase their profit margins. The renewable energy transition threatens the company's bottom line. The industry is placing a large wager on a petrochemical boom with hundreds of new or enlarged petrochemical plants under construction. The build-out is mostly planned for the Appalachian and Gulf Coast regions, where land is inexpensive, and the government is pro-business. These regions are home to populations already struggling with hazardous pollution from the infrastructure built with fossil fuels. Due to its closeness to the international ports where most petrochemical goods would be shipped, the Gulf Coast is particularly alluring to the sector.

Petrochemical endangers marginalized communities: When petrochemical industries relocate, they make economic promises, but in practice, communities suffer while polluters make money. Rather than employing locally, businesses frequently use labor to run their facilities. They gain from exclusive tax cuts and other incentives that prevent the community from experiencing economic gains. Residents must decide whether to stay and risk their health or try to negotiate a buyout and leave their houses as schools and churches are compelled to relocate to make room for more plants. Communities of color, native communities, and low-income areas have all been the targets of polluters. The pollution from new petrochemical operations will worsen these regions' health issues like asthma and cancer.

Petrochemicals exacerbate climate conditions: Petrochemicals are expected to be the main driver of global oil consumption as we transition to sustainable energy and mobility. New petrochemical plants would extend the oil and gas industry's lifespan, undermining attempts to preserve fossil fuels in the ground. Petrochemical plants use a lot of energy and release a lot of carbon pollution into the atmosphere. Petrochemical goods continue to exacerbate the climate catastrophe once they are created. Almost 12 percent of plastic garbage is burned, producing harmful chemicals and extra greenhouse gases. According to recent studies, the breakdown of plastic releases greenhouse gases, possibly becoming a major and unmanageable source of emissions.

Research shows that industries manufacture 300 million tons of plastic annually, of which half is used to make single-use items like plastic bags and water bottles. Only 8 percent of the plastic thrown away in the United States each year is recycled. The harmful compounds in plastic garbage wind up in landfills, seeping into the groundwater and running into lakes and rivers. Or it makes its way to our seas, where 8 million metric tons of plastic are thought to enter each year, according to experts. It endangers wildlife and taints our food chain there. More petrochemical facilities are expected to stabilize plastics demand and the plastics industry's earnings for many years.