The Centralia Model explores how a former coal town in Washington successfully rebuilt its economy after the closure of its coal mine and the planned retirement of its coal-fired power plant. Instead of relying on fossil fuel development, the community invested in clean energy and energy efficiency through a transition fund. The report describes how these investments created jobs, supported local workers and strengthened the economy while improving quality of life. It offers a practical example of how communities can manage the transition away from fossil fuels and provides lessons that other regions can adapt to build more resilient local economies.
The Centralia Model: Economic Transition Beyond Coal
Oil and gas production often releases pollutants through a process known as flaring and venting, but the true scale of these emissions can be difficult to measure. In this study, researchers combined satellite observations with reported industry data to estimate their impact across the United States. They found that emissions from flaring and venting may be much higher than official inventories suggest and can significantly affect air quality in regions with intensive oil and gas production. These emissions have substantial health impacts, including respiratory illness and premature deaths, highlighting the importance of accurately tracking and reducing pollution from the oil and gas sector.
The Carbon Mapper conducted the largest airborne survey of U.S. landfills to date, providing new insights into one of the country’s largest sources of methane emissions. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the study found that landfill emissions may be significantly higher than conventional estimates suggest. By identifying a relatively small number of high-emitting sites responsible for a large share of emissions, the research highlights key opportunities to reduce methane pollution. This demonstrates how targeted action at major emission hotspots could provide a major opportunity for climate action.
This report examines Pennsylvania’s investment in the Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County and evaluates whether the promised economic benefits have actually been delivered. The project received billions in public tax incentives based on projections of strong job creation and regional economic growth. The analysis finds that these expectations were overly optimistic and largely based on industry-funded studies with unrealistic assumptions. These projections also overlooked environmental and health impacts, as well as the high public costs of supporting the project. More than a year after the plant began operating, the region has not experienced the expected economic gains. Instead, job growth and business activity have remained weak or declined compared to broader state and national trends.
Overall, the report states that the project has not delivered the promised benefits and highlights concerns about pollution, emissions and long-term costs to local communities. It suggests that public funding for large fossil fuel projects should be carefully assessed, particularly when more sustainable alternatives may provide stronger outcomes.
This report by Amnesty International examines the human rights, environmental, and climate impacts of the petrochemical industry along the Houston Ship Channel. More than 600 industrial plants line this waterway, converting oil and gas into chemicals used to make products such as plastics, fertilizers and pesticides. Operating around the clock, these facilities release toxic pollution into the air and water, harming both human health and the environment. Communities living near the channel, many of which are low-income and racialized, face daily exposure to hazardous chemicals in the air they breathe. The report assesses how these environmental burdens disproportionately affect marginalized communities along the Houston Ship Channel.
Plastic Inc., by award-winning journalist Beth Gardiner, explores how the plastics industry has driven the global plastic pollution crisis. While individuals are encouraged to use less plastic, the industry continues to pour billions into scaling up production. The book reveals that the crisis is largely shaped by powerful oil and petrochemical companies, along with systems designed to keep plastic production growing.
The book also reveals several key issues, including how Big Oil promoted recycling as a solution despite knowing its limits at scale, the growing health concerns linked to microplastics and chemicals in plastic products, and how plastic-producing industries have used political influence to resist bans on single-use plastics.
