United States: Fossil-fuel related toxic pollution from petrochemical industry is devastating lives

United States: Fossil fuel-related toxic pollution from the petrochemical industry is devastating lives in Texas and Louisiana

Reports from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expose the devastating human rights toll the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry is taking on fenceline communities in the United States, and call on state and federal authorities to take immediate actions to address these harms.
Affected communities are suffering grievous human rights abuses but have little or no access to adequate healthcare, remedy or redress. Children attending schools are among those regularly breathing in chemicals known to cause cancers, respiratory ailments, and birth abnormalities.
Many plants have appalling safety records, flout rules and repeatedly leak harmful chemicals without meaningful penalties or consequences. Amnesty International is calling for a fundamental regulatory overhaul, for a halt to petrochemical industry expansion in these “sacrifice zones” and for a rapid and fair phase out of the use of fossil fuels.

Amnesty International released The Cost of Doing Business? The Petrochemical Industry’s Toxic Pollution in the USA which details the devastating harms related to toxic pollution from hundreds of fossil fuel and petrochemical plants along the Houston Ship Channel in Texas, and scrutinizes the emissions and safety records of four plants owned by multinational corporations.

Human Rights Watch issued “We’re Dying Here”: The Fight For Life in a Louisiana Fossil Fuel Sacrifice Zone which documents a human health crisis in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” resulting from government neglect and environmental pollution, exposing residents to elevated risks of cancer, respiratory ailments and harm to maternal, reproductive and newborn health.

“People’s lives and the environment are being devastated at the hands of big business. Affected communities are disproportionately low-income and racialized, often lack access to the healthcare they need, and face almost insurmountable barriers to justice. It is environmental racism,” said Alysha Khambay, Amnesty International’s researcher on business and human rights.

Many interviewees told Amnesty International how they, or a close relative, had been diagnosed with a respiratory disease, including lung cancer and asthma, or frequently experienced breathing difficulties. This is consistent with academic research exploring the health impacts of proximity to the petrochemicals industry. Average life expectancy in communities along the Houston Ship Channel is up to 20 years lower than in majority white neighborhoods just 15 miles away.

“It pretty much affects me and my family every single day. There’s always smells in the air, every time you step outside for a little while,” said community member Alondra Torres.

In Texas, companies can escape regulatory fines if they say a leak was “unplanned and unavoidable” and money from any fines imposed is sometimes channeled into pro-industry schemes. The state regulator can legally ignore pollution complaints from community members who have previously reported being affected by pollution. The large concentration of facilities makes it difficult to pinpoint which plant is the source of a leak, or the cause of an illness.

A worst-case toxic release disaster could harm tens of thousands of people, but despite major fires and chemical leaks in recent years, there is no effective emergency alert system in place to warn residents.

Alysha Khambay said: “Regulations are often unenforced, and many of the companies involved appear to treat any fines from regulators, if they are imposed at all, as just another cost of doing business. Some plants have repeatedly exposed local communities to dangerous chemicals with little or inadequate warning.

“There is no effective regulatory deterrent to prevent these firms harming people, which they are doing with near impunity. The current system is stacked in favor of the companies and against the people they harm. The human rights abuses related to the petrochemical industry worldwide are often staggeringly harmful. This must and can change.”

The report calls for much improved pollution monitoring at fence lines, more regulatory inspections and enforcement action, and for the federal Environment Protection Agency to more frequently exercise its powers to enforce national laws in Texas, and punish polluters. Local communities must have access to redress, and remedies for the harms they are suffering, including funding for healthcare.