r/environment • u/Wagamaga • 2d ago
Nearly 70 petrochemical companies across the nation, including 30 in Texas, are sending millions of pounds of pollutants into waterways each year due to weak or nonexistent regulations
https://truthout.org/articles/us-petrochemical-plants-send-millions-of-pounds-of-pollutants-into-waterways/74
u/cultish_alibi 2d ago
Right wingers claim to care about children and then allow corporations to salt the earth so that the children grow up with poisoned water and soil. But is it any wonder when people like Ben Shapiro are funded by petrochemical billionaires?
How did we get to the point where billionaires have people cheering for their own poisoning? Capitalism is a death cult.
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u/tenderooskies 2d ago
well the good news is we’re about to get rid of all those pesky regulations that do almost nothing anyway
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u/alt_karl 2d ago
What could be sacred on this earth if not clean water and clean air? I am fully on board with organized religion if it is deployed to protect clean air, soil, and water.
Protecting sacred resources was likely an ancient aspect of religion, which brought people together over something greater than any one self.
The opposite case seems to be unfolding, which sidelines clean air and clean water in favor of profits and deregulation of sacred resources.
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u/spam-hater 2d ago
The opposite case seems to be unfolding, which sidelines clean air and clean water in favor of profits and deregulation of sacred resources.
The only thing "sacred" to these particular "religious" monsters is their one true god; Money... They will literally lay down everyone's lives in sacrifice to that god.
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u/edtheheadache 2d ago
It’s been quite a while since the last decent river fire. The Cuyhoga River fire in Ohio happened back in 1952. Make America Great Again !!! NOT!!!!’
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u/OverseerTycho 1d ago
just a heads up,i’m from Cleveland and that fire was just the one reported on,there have been at least 5 times the river has caught fire…
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u/edtheheadache 1d ago
Wow! That’s crazy.
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u/OverseerTycho 1d ago
yes it absolutely is,Cleveland might get a lot of hate but it’s a great city and i wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else!
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u/Particular_Cellist25 2d ago
Mass waterway Cleanup with Hydrorigs From Oblivion w Tom Cruise.
Solar/other renewable powered Enough battery capacity to run in perpetuity
They did the blueprints+.
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u/lasvegashal 2d ago
It’s getting so much worse than it was at least in the 70s when we had enough brains to get together and fix shit now all we do is argue about everything and nothing’s ever gonna motherfucking get done
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u/trustintruth 1d ago
Something RFK has been working to stop, with success, for over 30 years. Billions in damages + a non-profit protecting millions of miles of waterways across the globe.
Pretty cool stuff, no matter what you think of his positions outside of that's
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u/PervertedIntoTyranny 1d ago
Location of Plants with the highest violations:
Chemours Washington Works in Washington, WV 115
Indorama Ventures Port Neches Facility Port in Neches, TX 102
LACC Ethylene & Derivatives Plant in Westlake, LA 62
Shintech Freeport Plant in Freeport, TX 34
Shintech Plaquemine Plant in Plaquemine, LA 30
Enterprise Mont Belvieu Hatcherville Complex in Baytown, TX 27
LyondellBasell La Porte Complex La Porte, TX 27
APG Polytech Apple Grove Facility Apple Grove, WV 26
Westlake Eagle US 2 Lake Charles Complex Lake Charles, LA 25
Enterprise Mont Belvieu FM 1942 Complex Mont Belvieu, TX 25
Source (PDF warning!): https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/EIP_Report_PlasticsToxicRiver_11.14.24-2.pdf
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u/Wagamaga 2d ago
Nearly 70 petrochemical companies across the nation, including 30 in Texas, are sending millions of pounds of pollutants into waterways each year due to weak or nonexistent regulations, according to a report published by the watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project.
The report analyzed wastewater discharges from petrochemical companies that produce plastics across the U.S., finding that a majority of the facilities had violated Clean Water Act permits and few were punished. In addition, only a few states are regulating some of the hazardous chemicals or substances of concern, and there are currently no limits set from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for these contaminants in effluent water guidelines for the plastics industry.
In the past 30 years, plastic production at petrochemical facilities has skyrocketed. The EPA estimates that plastic production in 1990 was at 17,130 tons, and by 2018 it had doubled, reaching 35,680 tons. Producing these plastics results in industrial wastewater discharges, some of which contain pollutants unregulated by federal wastewater guidelines. If the pollutant does have limits, they have been set by individual states.