Activities will continue in 2021 because the plastics problems persist
From the CORR Action Statement on December 23, 2020
Concerned Ohio River Residents (CORR) and 500+ member organizations have recently launched the Presidential Plastics Action Plan, a national effort to demand president-elect Biden utilize his executive authority to fight the plastic pollution crisis. Eight bold executive actions, outlined in the Plan, could immediately set the nation on a pathway to a plastic-pollution-free future while longer-term measures that require action at all levels of government and society are developed.
CORR remains committed to advocating on behalf of residents of the Ohio River Valley whose health, safety, and livelihoods have been adversely impacted by fossil fuel extraction and plastic production. If we are serious about stopping the plastic pollution crisis, we must reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic produced by petrochemical facilities like the PTTGC ethane cracker plant, proposed for construction in Dilles Bottom, Ohio. If built, the plant would further entrench our regional economy in fossil fuel extraction and plastics production, contributing to our planet’s unprecedented global plastics congestion.
Our communities have uniquely suffered from our region’s outsized contribution to the fossil-fuel-caused climate crisis. It’s time to demand better.
Please join us in calling on President-elect Biden to take bold action against plastics pollution, including suspending and denying permits for new or expanded plastic production facilities like the PTTGC ethane cracker plant and associated infrastructure projects.
Plastic Market Trends are Bad News for Appalachian Cracker Plants
According to the Ohio River Valley Institute, public attitudes about plastic have shifted so dramatically that the world may have already reached “peak plastic,” spelling big trouble for the long-planned dream of an Appalachian petrochemical buildout.
According to a PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted in November 2019, two-thirds of Americans are willing to pay more for everyday items instead of using plastic. And that public skepticism of plastic is making itself visible in a mounting tsunami of bans, fees, and regulations on disposable consumer plastic items.
For those who care about the economic future of the Ohio River Valley, it is important to understand what is likely to change in the petrochemical and plastics industries. And it is important to see what those changes are likely to mean for regional investments in production facilities like the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County or the long-deferred PTTGC cracker proposed for Belmont County, Ohio.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has previously published a series of grim outlooks on these projects, pointing out that ratings agencies and investors alike are souring on their prospects. And there is even more reason to be concerned that the entire concept — fracking for petrochemical feedstock to make plastic — is fundamentally flawed.
Plastic Recycling is an Actual Scam
For decades, the plastics industry has been pushing false information about plastics recycling to churn out more single-use plastic products. This video explains the misinformation campaigns that have led the public to believe that large-scale recycling is a viable strategy for the reuse of discarded plastic products.
This holiday season, consider supporting CORR activities —
Concerned Ohio River Residents advocates on behalf of everyone who lives in the Ohio River Valley. Just like you, we’re concerned about the health, safety, and livelihood of our friends, family, and neighbors. Please consider supporting our advocacy work by purchasing our Save the Ohio River t-shirt or donating to our GoFundMe page to halt the construction of the PTTG ethane cracker.
Check out CORR’s website at www.concernedohioriverresidents.org for updates, analyses, and events.
Email: general@concernedohioriverresidents.org
Concerned Ohio River Residents, P.O. Box 135, Bridgeport, OH 43912
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See also: Gas, Oil Companies Like Chevron Phillips Have A Plastic Pellet Problem — Laura Sullivan, NPR, December 22, 2020
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Environment: Let’s wean ourselves off plastics
By Bill Adams, Tacoma News Tribune, December 15, 2020
Re: “Union coalition urges state to approve methanol plant,” (TNT, 12/3).
A coalition of about 25 national and international unions claims that in addition to creating family-wage jobs, the proposed methanol plant in Kalama, Washington, would also help fight climate change.
While it would provide about 200 permanent jobs, its 4.6 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually would only surrender to climate change, not fight it.
The proponents’ prevailing attitude seems similar to what they once tried selling in Tacoma: that if it’s not built here, it will be built elsewhere, so why help the local economy?
But no matter where it’s built, it will pollute big-time, doing nothing to combat climate change as carbon pollution does not respect geographic boundaries.
Perhaps it’s time for the world to think seriously about weaning itself from plastics dependency (methanol is the feed stock for making plastics) to more reusable, renewable and biodegradable materials.
Incentives to do this would surely engage the entrepreneurial spirit of our country and lead to better jobs and a healthier environment.
Bill Adams, Des Moines
https://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article247863840.html
Living on Earth: Activism Cuts Plastic Waste in the Bahamas
From Bobby Bascomb, Living on Earth, January 8, 2021
§ Plastic waste is an overwhelming problem in the Bahamas. Ocean currents routinely wash tons of foreign plastic on to the beaches of the island nation. Add in waste from the tourism industry and domestic use and the Bahamas finds itself drowning in plastic.
Without enough space and resources to recycle the plastic, the Bahamas has been forced to burn or bury much of it in landfills.
Environmental activist Kristal Ambrose was struck by the profound harm to wildlife caused by plastic waste. So, she started a non-profit to fight it and successfully lobbied her government to ban all single-use plastics in the Bahamas.
For her work, Kristal is the 2020 Goldman Environmental prize winner for Island Nations. She joins me now. Kristal, welcome to Living on Earth.
https://loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=21-P13-00002&segmentID=4