Fracked Plastic: Petrochemicals, Policy, and Public Health

Join Beyond Plastics on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7pm ET for a free webinar about the petrochemical infrastructure build-out that’s unfolding in Pennsylvania and the greater Ohio River Valley, its implications for public and environmental health, and how you can help support the frontline activists working to prevent it from growing.

Decades of policy decisions contributed to the shale gas boom and now the petrochemical industry is eyeing the Ohio River Valley region as a production hub for single-use plastics made out of fracked gas, starting with Shell’s massive new ethane cracker in Monaca, Pennsylvania. The cracker facility is expected to come on line any day now and begin churning out billions of tiny plastic pellets called “nurdles”, along with lots of air pollution and greenhouse gases. Fortunately, communities and organizations in the region are taking it upon themselves to monitor pollution from the Shell plant in the hopes of preventing future ethane crackers from moving in.

This event will feature Heather Hulton VanTassel, Executive Director of Three Rivers Waterkeeper in Pittsburgh, PA and Alison Steele, Executive Director of the Environmental Health Project in McMurray, PA who will speak about their work in the region. You will also hear from Jill Antares Hunkler, a seventh generation Ohio Valley resident who is an educator, grassroots advocate, and a fracking refugee.