December 8, 2021

Plastics, fertilizer, and synthetic rubber: Report calls out chemical industry’s use of fossil fuels

Everyone knows that the fossil fuel industry drives global warming. A new report shows that the chemical industry contributes to the climate crisis, too. But the conversation about solutions to climate change has largely omitted the role that chemicals and petrochemicals play in exacerbating the crisis, and the report says policymakers should start thinking about ways to green the industry. 

The chemical sector doesn’t just make products like inks, solvents, glues, and soaps. It also makes products out of oil and gas like plastics, fertilizer, and synthetic rubber. The chemical industry often relies on fossil fuels to power its factories and make its products. And some of these chemicals, like refrigerants, are potent greenhouse gases themselves. All of those emissions add up.  Read More

December 7, 2021

The Chemical Industry: An Overlooked Driver of the Climate Crisis, Says New Report

A new report was released today about how the chemical industry is driving the climate crisis and what should be done about it. The new report - “The Chemical Industry: An Overlooked Driver of the Climate Crisis” - describes how chemicals and petrochemicals used to make plastic, rubber, fertilizers and more are made from fossil fuel feedstocks and manufactured using fossil-fuel based energy, accounting for roughly seven percent of global GHG emissions. Yet somehow the chemical industry is overlooked when it comes to climate solutions. Read More

December 7, 2021

Cut greenhouse gas emissions, advocates tell chemical industry

December 3, 2021

Statement of Solidarity with Environmental Justice communities in Bhopal on the 37th Anniversary of the Agrochemical Gas Disaster

On this 37th anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster, we, the undersigned individuals and organizations from across the United States, express our solidarity with the people of Bhopal who, in 1984, were exposed when 27 tons of the highly toxic pesticide intermediary chemical, methyl isocyanate (MIC), leaked due to a preventable incident at the Union Carbide pesticide plant. We stand united to end the harm from toxic chemicals throughout their lifecycle, from feedstock extraction to disposal and persistent contamination in humans and the environment. Read More

November 24, 2021

The EPA Administrator Visited Cancer-Causing Air Pollution Hot Spots Highlighted by ProPublica and Promised Reforms

Veteran environmental activist Christine Bennett, who grew up in Mossville, lost eight of her family members to illnesses that she attributes to “living in a chemical cocktail.” She’s traveled across the United States to speak about pollution. During her meeting with Regan, she asked him for the same things she’d already asked of so many government officials: a health clinic, a memorial, restitution from industry for the lost value of Mossville’s homes and funding for relocation. Her husband, Delma Bennett, said that Regan told them he was “taking this to heart and hearing everything we are saying.” “But we’ve met with so many of them over the years,” Christine Bennett replied. “All we do is be heard.” Read More

November 19, 2021

Now hiring a National Chemical Campaign Organizer!

Coming Clean is seeking a motivated, self-starting individual with proven experience planning and organizing campaigns to join the amazing staff of a diverse, local to national environmental health network working to transform the chemical industry so that it is no longer a source of harm to people or the planet. Read More

November 17, 2021

Louisville Chemours plant plans to curb super pollutants

Earlier this year, Inside Climate News reported the Chemours Louisville Works plant emits more greenhouse gases than all of the cars and light-duty trucks registered in the city combined... New equipment will help the chemical plant reduce its greenhouse gas emissions... But the new equipment will create its own emissions, releasing more than 1,600 pounds of chloroform and other hazardous air pollutants into fence-line communities, records show. The communities that live near the industrial corridor known as Rubbertown already deal with a disproportionate amount of the city’s pollution. Nearly 2,400 people live within a mile of the plant, 62% are people of color and nearly half are low-income, according to an EPA database. “You can’t trade off one bad thing, greenhouse gases, for another bad thing, hazardous chemicals,” said Eboni Cochran, co-director of Rubbertown Emergency Action (REACT), Read More