As the urgency to transition to clean energy gains momentum, the fossil fuel industry is pinning its hopes for the future on a different product: plastic. By-products of fracked gas are used to create the building blocks of plastics, but not without impacts on communities.
Many plastic production plants have documented clean air violations that disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. And these facilities are contaminating waters with small plastic pellets called nurdles, which are unregulated despite posing threats to wildlife and health.
Credit: Briana Flin
This is episode 3 in the four-part docuseries, Phantom Threat, a production of Nexus Media News presented in partnership with Peril & Promise.
Funding made possible by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Special thanks to the Gas Leaks Project.
About the Series:
Phantom Threat is a series about the role of the “natural” gas industry in shaping public perception of the fuel, as well as the work of frontline communities, climate leaders and scientists to uncover the truth about its risks. It features activists working to expose the negative climate, environmental and health impacts of gas throughout its entire lifecycle––from its extraction from the ground to its use in producing plastic to its consumption in homes.
