Fighting Off a Petrochemical Future in the Ohio River Valley
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Vanessa Lynch grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs in the 1980s and 鈥�90s but moved away for college. She returned to the area a decade later with her husband and then-1-year-old child.
It was 2007, and the fracking industry was just beginning to take hold in southwest Pennsylvania. The then-fledgling industry was not really on Lynch鈥檚 radar; between raising a daughter and working full-time as a therapist, she had her hands full. Things got even busier when she had her son in April 2009 and he began suffering from frightening wheezing spells when he was 6 months old, requiring periodic medical attention.
鈥淗onestly, I really had very little understanding of what was going on in the region,鈥� she says.
Just before her daughter was set to start kindergarten, Lynch and her family moved half an hour away to Indiana Township to be close to a good school and have more space to play outside. The neighborhood had everything the growing family could hope for, with a park to play soccer and softball and a creek for summertime wading.
A couple of years later, however, she learned via a neighbor鈥檚 Facebook post that the fracking industry had quietly placed a in her community, just above the local park. Infuriated and inspired to act, in 2018, Lynch joined up with the local chapter of the national environmental advocacy group , where she now works as a part-time organizer.
Lynch and her fellow organizers were not able to shut down the well pad, but they did win more protective ordinances for the township, shielding approximately 85% of its land from future drilling.
Now, though, there鈥檚 another threat lurking at Lynch鈥檚 door: a plastics manufacturing plant that Shell Oil is constructing just an hour away, on the banks of the Ohio River.
Shell鈥檚 ethane-cracker plant, which it began building in 2017, is set to open later this year, but the company has not yet announced a firm date and did not respond to a request for comment. The first facility of its kind in Appalachia, it will use extreme heat to 鈥渃rack鈥� ethane, a byproduct of fracked gas, into ethylene, a building block for manufacturing plastic.
The facility will produce more than 1 million tons of plastic pellets per year, which will be used to make products ranging from phone cases to auto parts. As it does, the facility will spew hundreds of tons of dangerous compounds into the air while also emitting . And it will be fed by the fracked gas from thousands of wells peppered across Appalachian communities鈥攃ommunities like Lynch鈥檚.
From Gas to Plastic
The fossil fuel industry is a powerful political and economic force in Pennsylvania, and Lynch鈥檚 organizing has been an uphill battle. In recent years, though, the market has been on her side.
In the roughly 15 years since fracking first came to Appalachia, gas has become a far riskier investment. Until Russia鈥檚 recent invasion of Ukraine, growth in global demand was on the decline, especially amid the spread of COVID-19. One even found that Appalachian gas may never be profitable again.
In plastic, however, the fossil fuel industry sees a chance to turn itself around, solidifying demand for fracked gas in the region for decades to come. Local officials are on board with the scheme鈥攖hey awarded Shell one of the in national history.
Advocates are particularly concerned because the Shell cracker plant isn鈥檛 meant to be the sole plastic plant in the region. Rather, it is part of a plan to transform Appalachia鈥檚 Ohio River Valley into a plastic and petrochemical hub, with cracker plants, storage facilities, and gas pipelines erected across Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
鈥淭hese plants don鈥檛 stand alone, and they require a high volume of natural gas to do the work that they do,鈥� Lynch says. 鈥淪o when you think about the Ohio River Valley and the potential for these sorts of very large polluters to become more and more common, it really does become a more concerning story.鈥�
Health Impacts
In Lynch鈥檚 township, gas companies are currently extracting gas from . But six more are permitted for future use if the industry decides to develop them, and as demand for ethane increases to supply the cracker plant (or plants), she is concerned that the number could rise.
Nearby areas, many of them more economically depressed, are far more open to drilling than hers. The most fracked county in the state is Washington County, where the poverty rate is higher than it is in . But as demand grows, Lynch says, fracking is expanding.
鈥淸Washington County] is where fracking really started in southwest PA, so it鈥檚 the most concentrated,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e finding is, as they鈥檙e looking for places to expand, we鈥檙e the next generation of areas that they鈥檙e coming to.鈥�
Since emissions don鈥檛 respect borders, pollution from nearby municipalities could spread across the region. The air in the area is already : A found that Allegheny County, which comprises the greater Pittsburgh area, including Indiana Township, is in the top 2% of areas in the U.S. for cancer risks from air pollution.
Fracking鈥攕horthand for 鈥渉ydraulic fracturing鈥濃�攊nvolves pumping chemicals, such as benzene, antifreeze, and diesel, deep underground to fracture shale deposits and release the gas stored within them. The process releases airborne benzene, formaldehyde, particulate matter, and ammonia, which have been to respiratory ailments and other illnesses.
There is no way to determine whether fracking contributed to Lynch鈥檚 son鈥檚 lung issues due to his proximity to fracking operations, but the practice has been to shortness of breath, worsened asthma, and other respiratory ailments.
There are other health impacts to worry about too. Used fracking chemicals often get 鈥攁 concern that some and authorities have ignored.
Drilling into shale for gas can also release radioactive materials, like , that have been buried for millennia. In recent years, of children have contracted rare cancers, including Ewing sarcoma, in southwest Pennsylvania. Researchers exposure to radiation could be responsible.
鈥淔racking makes people sick. It makes people very sick,鈥� says Ned Ketyer, a retired pediatrician and board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, a physician-led organization focused on environmental health.
With the imminent opening of Shell鈥檚 cracker plant, Ketyer says there will be even more risks to health on the horizon from the plant鈥檚 emissions, including nitrogen oxide, ozone, and volatile organic compounds, as well as the increased demand for fracked gas.
Ketyer has spent years raising the alarm about the dangers of fossil fuels, but despite the evidence that gas is harming locals, he鈥檚 found that not everyone is interested in pushing back.
鈥淭his is an area where people have lived for generations, extracting fossil fuel and supporting the industries that extract fossil fuels,鈥� he says.
Challenges
Growing up in the Pittsburgh suburbs, Lynch didn鈥檛 think much about pollution. Neither, she says, did her family members鈥攅ven those who were exposed to it each day at work. Her grandfather, for instance, was an electrical engineer in the steel industry.
鈥淗e used to tell a story about how when he would get up in the morning, he would put on his white shirt to go to work, and when he would come home in the evening, the shirt would be gray,鈥� she says.
Polluting, fossil fuel-based industries鈥攃oal, steel, and now gas鈥攈ave long formed the backbone of the region鈥檚 economy. The resulting public desensitization to pollution has posed difficulties in local environmental organizing. So have Shell鈥檚 claims that the plastic industry will put people back to work. In southwest Pennsylvania, the unemployment rate is significantly .
鈥淲e are often prepared to trade our health for jobs,鈥� says Lois Bower-Bjornson, field organizer for Clean Air Council, who lives in southwest Pennsylvania鈥檚 Washington County.
Amid , local unions have been overwhelmingly supportive of the cracker plant. But while Shell once claimed the facility would create of jobs, that projection later dropped to .
Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, a coalition of environmental and public health groups focused on the Pittsburgh region, says that even some residents who are skeptical of the fossil fuel industry鈥檚 expansion plans are nervous to publicly take a stand. They fear backlash not only from their neighbors, but also from the industry or its government allies.
鈥淭丑别谤别鈥檚 a cultural history where people have learned through multiple generations that it鈥檚 better to just go along and get along and not raise up these issues鈥攖hat if you want to be able to survive in this county, you keep your mouth shut,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we run up against. That is a legacy of [the region鈥檚] industrial past.鈥�
Resistance
Despite the challenges, a small yet vibrant movement in southwest Pennsylvania is fighting plans for gas and plastic expansion: holding , and , and mobilizing of people to testify at hearings.
They have achieved some wins, including the fact that the cracker plant will on-site.
taken emissions tracking , using both naked-eye observations and low-cost monitors to track pollution to ensure Shell is complying with regulations.
Beyond fighting the Shell plant itself, Lynch has also been advocating for a fairer regulatory environment, pressuring the federal government to keep its promise to instate and advocating for the state of Pennsylvania to join a , two measures that could lessen local pollution.
Activists are also working to boost public awareness of the dangers of fracking and plastic. Bower-Bjornson of the Clean Air Council, for instance, tours to introduce the public to the human impacts of fracking, showing attendees well pads and compressor sites and introducing them to people impacted by their pollution.
Like the planned petrochemical hub, the movement for a healthier and safer environment . This varied opposition is necessary, since there鈥檚 no single policy that can take down the fossil fuel industry, says Dustin White, a senior campaigner on plastics and petrochemicals with the Center for International Environmental Law.
鈥淭丑别谤别鈥檚 no one thing that鈥檚 absolutely gonna stop it all,鈥� he says, instead calling for a 鈥渄eath by 1,000 paper cuts鈥� approach.
White, who lives in West Virginia, says this approach also includes thinking bigger by advocating for a total ban on a petrochemical build-out. Just as important is helping people envision more just and sustainable systems, where neither communities nor materials are treated as disposable: 鈥淎 more regenerative economy,鈥� he says.
It鈥檚 clear the current economic system for most working-class people in Pennsylvania. It may not even be sustainable for the fossil fuel sector. and alike have predicted that, due to a variety of market factors and increasing concern about the climate crisis, the petrochemical build-out is far from a safe financial bet.
Rather than pouring public money into projects that put Pennsylvanians鈥� health and the climate on the line鈥攁nd that could be doomed to collapse anyway鈥攁ctivists say officials should invest in more sustainable industries. Research shows that investments in renewable energy, for example, could create each year in the state.
Lynch fears that if her local economy doesn鈥檛 change quickly, the region鈥攁nd the planet鈥攕he calls home could become unlivable by the time her kids are grown. But she gains motivation from knowing there鈥檚 another path.
鈥淚 think about the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, but I also think about all the amazing opportunities we have to protect this region and to remind people that our health and our well-being [have] value,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the project of a lifetime.鈥�
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Dharna Noor
is a staff writer at Earther whose writing has appeared in Truthout, Jacobin, and the Baltimore Beat.
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Nicole Fabricant
is a cultural anthropologist whose research interests focus on the cultural politics of resource wars in Latin America and the US. Her dissertation work and recent publications have centered on the Landless Peasant Movement (MST-Bolivia), a 50,000-member social movement comprised of displaced peasants, informal laborers, and intellectuals fighting for land redistribution and the revitalization of small-scale farming. She has written about the creative ways in which displaced peoples use and mobilize cultural forms to push for political and economic reforms.
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