petrochemical plastics refining cancer-alley louisiana texas environmental-justice
related: Fossil Fuel Bloc Marathon Petroleum ExxonMobil Koch Network
Who They Are
The Petrochemical Industry Bloc. The cluster of companies that refine crude oil and natural gas into plastics, chemicals, fertilizers, and industrial materials — an industry that generates $600+ billion in annual U.S. revenue and concentrates its political power in Louisiana, Texas, and the Gulf Coast “Cancer Alley” corridor. Major players include Dow Chemical, DuPont (now Corteva/DowDuPont), LyondellBasell, BASF, Formosa Plastics, and Koch Industries’ chemical divisions.
The petrochemical industry’s political operation is distinct from upstream oil and gas: while fossil fuel companies focus on extraction policy (drilling permits, federal land leases, pipeline approvals), petrochemical companies focus on chemical regulation (EPA TSCA enforcement), plastics policy (recycling mandates, plastic bag bans, PFAS regulation), and environmental justice (Cancer Alley pollution, fenceline community exposure). The industry spends $100M+ annually on lobbying and political contributions, primarily targeting EPA regulation, chemical safety standards, and environmental permitting.
The Cancer Alley Political Economy
The petrochemical industry’s geographic concentration along the Mississippi River corridor from Baton Rouge to New Orleans creates a structural political dynamic: predominantly Black and low-income communities bear the health costs of petrochemical pollution while the economic benefits (jobs, tax revenue) flow to corporations and state government. Louisiana’s industrial tax exemptions (ITEP) have forgone $30+ billion in property tax revenue for petrochemical companies — revenue that would have funded schools, hospitals, and infrastructure in the communities most affected by pollution.
Money
The petrochemical industry’s political investment has purchased the right to externalize health costs onto frontline communities. Cancer Alley’s excess cancer rates, respiratory disease, and developmental disorders are the cost of production that petrochemical companies don’t pay — those costs are borne by the predominantly Black communities that live adjacent to petrochemical plants. Louisiana’s political class — funded by petrochemical PACs and lobbying — maintains the industrial tax exemptions and environmental permitting regime that enables this extraction. The industry’s political contributions to both parties ensure that EPA regulation remains weak, PFAS liability is deferred, and plastic production continues expanding even as plastic pollution reaches crisis levels. The petrochemical bloc doesn’t just resist environmental regulation — it has captured the regulatory infrastructure that should protect frontline communities.
Sources
- OpenSecrets: Chemical industry lobbying (Tier 1)
- EPA: Toxics Release Inventory - Louisiana (Tier 1)
- Ballotpedia: Petrochemical industry regulation (Tier 3)
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