A new report warns that a wave of proposed petrochemical plants in Texas will largely be built near communities of color, often in areas that are already heavily polluted.
The analysis, undertaken by researchers at Texas Southern University, looked at 89 proposed petrochemical projects across the state and at communities within three miles of those sites. It found that 82 facilities are planned for areas with more poverty or proportionally more people of color than average in Texas.
“For more than three decades, environmental scholars have documented how race and poverty predict where polluting industries place their facilities,” said lead author Robert Bullard, an influential researcher widely known as “the father of environmental justice.” The new petrochemical buildout, he said, “shows that we are not addressing this injustice.”
Nearly half of the projects are proposed for areas that already rank among the worst areas nationally for toxic air releases, while nine in 10 would be built near other high-risk chemical plants. From 2021 to 2023, Texas led the nation in hazardous chemical incidents, such as fires, explosions, and toxic releases.
Researchers undertook the analysis using data from EJScreen, a mapping tool developed by the Environmental Protection Agency that combined data on pollution, race, ethnicity, and income to expose threats to vulnerable communities. The Trump administration quietly took down the tool earlier this year.
While researchers are maintaining copies of EJScreen online, the government is no longer supplying updated data. A coalition of advocacy groups is now suing the EPA to restore EJScreen.
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