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Plastics

In ‘Silent Spring,’ Rachel Carson Described a Fictional, Bucolic Hamlet, Much Like Her Hometown. Now, There’s a Plastics Plant Under Construction 30 Miles Away

The Shell facility will emit 2.2 million tons of greenhouse gases and produce 1.6 million tons of plastic pellets each year, and the nature trail past Carson’s homestead is replete with signs of fracking.

By Kiley Bense

The Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale, Pennsylvania on May 9, 2022. Credit: Katie Surma
Consumer clothing products for sale at Walmart store on June 1, 2012 in Rosemead, California. Credit: Getty Images/Bob Riha, Jr.

Analysis: Fashion Industry Efforts to Verify Sustainability Make ‘Greenwashing’ Easier

By Phil McKenna

Large amounts of trash and plastic refuse collect in Ballona Creek after a major rain storm in Culver City, California. Credit: Citizen of the Planet/UIG via Getty Images

California Attorney General Investigates the Oil and Gas Industry’s Role in Plastic Pollution, Subpoenas Exxon

By James Bruggers

An Indian boy walks through plastic waste on Juhu beach in Mumbai on June 2, 2018. Credit: Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images

For the First Time, Nations Band Together in a Move Toward Ending Plastics Pollution

By James Bruggers

Children play in piles of plastic waste collected for recycling in Makassar, Indonesia, in February 2022. Credit: Andri Saputra / AFP via Getty Images.

Biden Could Score a Climate Victory in a Single Word: Plastics

By James Bruggers

Workers carry and organize plastic bottles in the Dongxiaokou village on the outskirts of Beijing. Credit: Ryan Pyle/Corbis via Getty Images

World Talks on a Treaty to Control Plastic Pollution Are Set for Nairobi in February. How To Do So Is Still Up in the Air

By James Bruggers

Plastic and other debris floats underwater in the Red Sea off Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Credit: Andrey Nekrasov / Barcroft Media via Getty Images.

A Commonsense Proposal to Deal With Plastics Pollution: Stop Making So Much Plastic

By James Bruggers

Workers sort recycling material at the Waste Management Material Recovery Facility in Elkridge, Maryland, June 28, 2018. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Biden’s Infrastructure Bill Includes Money for Recycling, But the Debate Over Plastics Rages On

By James Bruggers

A cemetery stands in stark contrast to the chemical plants that surround it on Oct. 15, 2013. 'Cancer Alley' is one of the most polluted areas of the United States and lies along the once pristine Mississippi River that stretches some 80 miles from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, where a dense concentration of oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and other chemical industries reside alongside suburban homes. Credit: Giles Clarke/Getty Images

Does Another Plastics Plant in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ Make Sense? A New Report Says No

By James Bruggers

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) speaks alongside a bipartisan group of Democrat and Republican members of Congress as they announce a proposal for a Covid-19 relief bill on Capitol Hill on Dec. 14, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The Senate’s New Point Man on Climate Has Been the Democrats’ Most Fossil Fuel-Friendly Senator

By James Bruggers

A collaboration between Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical America and South Korea’s Daelim Industrial has been planning to construct a $5.7 billion plastics manufacturing plant at this site, as it was in February 2019, in Belmont County, Ohio.

Developers Put a Plastics Plant in Ohio on Indefinite Hold, Citing the Covid-19 Pandemic

By James Bruggers

Towers of flame shoot skyward from the Mont Belvieu, Texas, petroleum plant explosion on Nov. 5, 1985. Credit: Bettman/Getty Images

For the Ohio River Valley, an Ethane Storage Facility in Texas Is Either a Model or a Cautionary Tale

By James Bruggers

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio hands out reusable bags on Feb. 28, 2020, ahead of a plastic bag ban, The ban was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic

Polluting Industries Cash-In on COVID, Harming Climate in the Process

By Dan Gearino, Georgina Gustin, James Bruggers, Kristoffer Tigue

A collaboration between Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical America and South Korea’s Daelim Industrial has been planning to construct a $5.7 billion plastics manufacturing plant at this site, as it was in February 2019, in Belmont County, Ohio.

Market Headwinds Buffet Appalachia’s Future as a Center for Petrochemicals

By James Bruggers

Construction at an ethene cracker plant on the Ohio River for making the building blocks of plastics. Credit: James Bruggers

Congressional Democrats Join the Debate Over Plastics’ Booming Future

By James Bruggers

People pick up plastic waste on a beach. Credit: Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images

Booming Plastics Industry Faces Backlash as Data About Environmental Harm Grows

By James Bruggers

Construction at an ethene cracker plant on the Ohio River for making the building blocks of plastics. Credit: James Bruggers

House Votes to Block Trump from Using Clean Energy Funds to Back Fossil Fuels Project

By James Bruggers

What’s Worrying the Plastics Industry? Your Reaction to All That Waste, for One

By James Bruggers

Pre-production plastic pellets, known as nurdles, that had spilled from a train car. Credit: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Investors Pressure Oil Giants on Ocean Plastics Pollution

By David Hasemyer

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