Researchers at Texas Southern University in Houston have reviewed demographic data for nearly 100 proposed industrial facilities across the state and discovered that about 90% are situated in counties with higher populations of people of color and families in poverty compared to state averages.
A report by the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern highlighted that almost half of these proposed industrial sites, including petrochemical plants for plastics manufacturing, coastal export terminals, and refineries, are already in the top 90th percentile for pollution exposure according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory, which tracks harmful industrial emissions.
“Texas and other states must end decades-long industrial facility siting where economically disadvantaged communities serve as dumping grounds,” the report stated.
Robert Bullard, the center’s director, gained prominence with a 1979 study revealing that all five of Houston’s city-owned landfills and six of eight city-owned incinerators were located in Black neighborhoods.
“The process of the dumping, the siting, has not changed over these 45 years that I’ve been studying this,” Bullard said in an interview. “America is segregated and so is pollution.”
The Bullard Center’s latest study, “Green Light to Pollute in Texas,” found that the planned projects are mainly concentrated in existing refinery hubs on the Gulf Coast like Port Arthur, the Houston Ship Channel, Freeport, and Corpus Christi. Nearly half are in areas already facing some of the highest levels of toxic air pollution in the country.
The rapid growth of petrochemical complexes in the last decade, driven by abundant oil and gas from the fracking boom, has been dominated by the plastics industry. Texas’ plastics producers sold $61.5 billion in materials last year, employing 54,000 people, the highest in the nation, according to a report by the American Chemistry Council.
“Plastics are essential to modern life, powering our economy,” said Ross Eisenberg, president of America’s Plastic Makers, in a statement in September. “Plastics manufacturing means good jobs, strong wages, and sustained investment in America’s future.”
However, these jobs often do not benefit nearby communities, Bullard said. “Industries claim they provide jobs and boost the tax base, but for fenceline communities, it’s the opposite. They face higher poverty and unemployment rates.”
Most plant workers commute from other areas, leaving nearby neighborhoods to endure the effects of toxic emissions without economic gains, said Bullard, known as the father of environmental justice for his work.
Airborne emissions from petrochemical production include known carcinogens like benzene, ethylene oxide, vinyl chloride, and 1,3-butadiene, along with soot and other harmful chemicals. Wastewater often contains heavy metals or acids.
Making Plastic in Texas
The Bullard Center evaluated 114 oil and gas-related projects in Texas proposed at 89 locations as of February 2024, including coastal export terminals, refineries, and seawater desalination plants for petrochemical production.
Plastics projects dominate the list, primarily as expansions of existing complexes. Companies have proposed five new ethylene “crackers” in Texas. New polyethylene production units are planned by Dow and Chevron Phillips Chemical near Freeport, Baystar near Houston, Motiva Enterprises and Chevron Phillips Chemical near Port Arthur, and Equistar Chemicals near Corpus Christi. Formosa Plastics plans several new units in Point Comfort, including a PVC plastic reactor.
“The continued expansion of the petrochemical industry in Texas heavily impacts low-income communities of color already overburdened by pollution,” said Mike Belliveau, founder of Bend the Curve, an advocacy group for reduced plastic consumption.
Since the Bullard Center collected its data last year, the petrochemical markets have cooled due to an oversupply of plastics, leading to project cancellations. These include proposed polycarbonate units near Freeport by PetroLogistics and near Houston by LyondellBassell and Covestro, which also canceled a new polyurethane plant. ExxonMobil paused plans for an ethylene cracker in Point Comfort this year.
“Demand for plastics is still growing, but it’s slowing,” said Belliveau, a former MIT research associate. “It’s less than what the industry anticipated.”
The Bullard Center used a three-mile radius around each proposed facility for its analysis, employing several demographic indexes and the EPA’s EJScreen tool. While nearly half of Texas sites ranked above the 90th percentile for pollution exposure, some locations near Port Arthur and Beaumont ranked in the 99th percentile for toxic emissions.
According to permitting documents, one ethylene unit at Chevron Phillips Chemical Complex in Port Arthur is authorized to emit 612 tons of volatile organic compounds annually, as well as 192 tons of soot. The company seeks to add a furnace that would emit an additional 15 tons of VOCs and 8 tons of soot.
“At what level of pollution will there be a threshold?” Bullard asked. “This community’s toxic burden must be addressed without adding more pollution.”
Original Story at insideclimatenews.org