US Senators Highlight Environmental Justice in Plastics Process

• Panel holds hearing on how plastic affects communities. • Merkley to reintroduce plastic producer responsibility bill.

BLOOMBERG/CHRISTINE ZHU — Advocates at a Senate hearing Thursday urged lawmakers to keep environmental justice communities in mind when considering plastic production and disposal.

The Senate Environment and Public Work Committee’s Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight Subcommittee heard from witnesses on how facilities where plastics are made and disposed of are disproportionately located in communities of color and lowincome areas.

It was the second of a series of hearings on the issue planned by the panel’s chairman, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). At the first meeting in March, members discussed the properties and applications of plastic. Most are single-use and pose significant challenges to human health, ecosystems, and the environment, according to Merkley.

“You cannot tell the story of plastics without mentioning Cancer Alley in Louisiana,” Merkley said, referring to a five-mile section of the state between New Orleans and Baton Rouge with high levels of toxic pollution.

Sharon Lavigne, a lifelong resident of St. James, La., testified that water in the area is undrinkable and the environment harms families. Lavigne, the founder of Rise St. James—a faith-based organization focused on protecting the parish’s air and water from toxic industrial pollution—was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis in 2016, and aluminum and lead were found in her body in 2019.

“Everyone here either has cancer or knows someone with cancer,” Lavigne said. “I live in a cesspool of pollution.” Lavigne said she wants to find more solutions on how to reduce plastics in her community, calling for the industry to leave the area and requesting assistance from the federal government. “President Biden, the EPA, the Army Corps, and other agencies should use the tools they already have to protect us,” she said.

But Kevin Sunday, of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, highlighted the key role played by the energy and chemicals industries in providing needed goods, services, and employment for residents.

“These communities want jobs, so we must embrace and pursue tax and regulatory policy that does not drive investment away from these communities,” Sunday said.

Senators asked if Sunday would want his family to move to an area with high cancer rates, a question he avoided.

Merkley, in the previous session of Congress, introduced legislation that would require producers to be responsible for collection and recycling plans for covered packaging products. The measure would also reduce and phase out the sale and distribution of some single-use plastic products. The bill didn’t pass during the 117th Congress.

At an information session for Capitol Hill Ocean Week on June 8, Merkley said he planned to reintroduce the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act soon.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Zhu in Washington at czhu@bloombergindustry.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Zachary Sherwood at zsherwood@bloombergindustry.com; JoVona Taylor at jtaylor@bloombergindustry.com