[00:00:01.01]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:00:09.06]
- [Peter Coyote] If any
single human-made substance

[00:00:12.00]
defines the modern era,

[00:00:14.01]
it is the miracle product of plastic.

[00:00:17.05]
It benefits our lives in so many ways,

[00:00:20.04]
from cars to computers to phones,

[00:00:23.05]
to a world of durable goods,
even the clothes we wear.

[00:00:27.07]
Plastic in its various forms is used

[00:00:30.02]
by nearly every human on the planet.

[00:00:34.02]
But one use of this
miracle stuff that accounts

[00:00:37.05]
for nearly half of all plastic being made

[00:00:40.03]
has come back to bite us.

[00:00:42.07]
The disposable, single-use packaging,

[00:00:45.05]
plastic food containers and bottles

[00:00:47.09]
that can persist in the
environment for centuries.

[00:00:51.08]
But the invention of
this material long ago

[00:00:55.00]
was an answer to another problem.

[00:00:58.04]
[upbeat country music]

[00:01:01.05]
♪ Let's go up river to a time before ♪

[00:01:05.03]
♪ Elephants in great number ♪

[00:01:06.09]
♪ Were cut down by the score ♪

[00:01:09.01]
♪ Victorian peoples in
their sporting halls ♪

[00:01:13.01]
♪ Used their ivory tusks
for billiard balls ♪

[00:01:17.02]
♪ Along came an inventor
who mixed oil and gas ♪

[00:01:21.04]
♪ To save the elephants
from the dreadful past ♪

[00:01:25.03]
♪ And plastic was born ♪

[00:01:27.02]
♪ He answered the call ♪

[00:01:29.03]
♪ The future looked bright for us all ♪

[00:01:32.07]
♪ Upon the banks of the river ♪

[00:01:35.01]
♪ Machines they crank out
plastic doodads and whatsits ♪

[00:01:38.09]
♪ Both dainty and stout. ♪

[00:01:41.01]
♪ So many fine products
that make our lives grand ♪

[00:01:45.01]
♪ It's the single-use stuff
that's got out of hand ♪

[00:01:49.01]
♪ Into the ocean plastic
garbage it grows ♪

[00:01:53.00]
♪ Majestic sea creatures eat
the junk we've disposed ♪

[00:01:56.09]
♪ The fishermen at the market
sell their catch to us all ♪

[00:02:00.09]
♪ Dinner is served ♪

[00:02:02.04]
♪ Plastic surprise ♪

[00:02:05.04]
♪ Time once again to answer the call ♪

[00:02:16.07]
- [Peter] The immense volume of debris

[00:02:18.00]
flowing into the ocean is one problem,

[00:02:20.07]
but there are signs that the process

[00:02:22.05]
of making all this plastic is
also having a serious impact

[00:02:26.06]
on our health and the environment.

[00:02:29.06]
The question is, how do
we keep all the benefits

[00:02:32.08]
that plastics provide
but protect ourselves

[00:02:36.01]
and the environment from
the negative impacts?

[00:02:39.04]
And why does this waste
stream continue to grow

[00:02:42.03]
despite so many efforts to reduce it?

[00:02:49.03]
On November 7th, 2017, construction began

[00:02:52.07]
on the Royal Dutch Shell
Ethane Cracker plant

[00:02:55.09]
in Beaver County, Pennsylvania,

[00:02:58.01]
a plant designed to each year produce

[00:03:01.01]
over one and a half million
tons of raw plastic.

[00:03:05.02]
- 10 years ago when we
started courting Shell

[00:03:07.05]
in Beaver County, we had four hotels.

[00:03:10.04]
Today we have 31.

[00:03:12.06]
Where the steel industry
left us 30 years ago

[00:03:16.05]
and we have been desperate
for economic impact.

[00:03:19.08]
- All of my great-grandparents

[00:03:22.00]
and grandparents worked in Braddock

[00:03:24.01]
and I spent half of my childhood there.

[00:03:27.04]
You know, I remember a time

[00:03:28.09]
when there were thousands of workers,

[00:03:31.06]
and the place where the
steel industry began

[00:03:35.01]
has slowly been abandoned.

[00:03:37.02]
It's resulted in lots of
displacement of people,

[00:03:40.09]
families, and it's heartbreaking.

[00:03:43.08]
- Have you gotten to see
what's going on at the Shell

[00:03:47.01]
petrochemical facility, also
known as the Cracker Plant?

[00:03:50.05]
If you have not, will you
please take a ride to go see it?

[00:03:56.01]
Right now.

[00:03:57.02]
It has, I believe,

[00:03:58.03]
the third tallest crane in the country

[00:04:01.00]
and the fifth tallest
crane in the country.

[00:04:02.09]
And my understanding is
it is the single largest

[00:04:05.02]
construction site in the United
States, if not the world.

[00:04:07.09]
4,500 trade jobs,

[00:04:10.04]
and it's gonna peak this summer at 6,500.

[00:04:14.05]
- The reason why I got into office,

[00:04:16.07]
why I wanted to do this,
'cause I have seven kids,

[00:04:19.00]
and after seeing my siblings
leave Western Pennsylvania,

[00:04:22.03]
I wanna see a day when they can stay here.

[00:04:27.00]
- [Peter] As an incentive
for Shell to build

[00:04:29.01]
their ethane cracker
in rural Beaver County,

[00:04:32.01]
the majority of state lawmakers voted

[00:04:34.08]
for the biggest tax break
in Pennsylvania's history.

[00:04:39.02]
The belief was that it
would boost the economy

[00:04:41.05]
by tapping into the natural
gas deep within the state's

[00:04:45.06]
Marcellus Shale formation

[00:04:48.04]
by fracking, the drilling
method that injects liquids

[00:04:51.09]
at high pressure to fracture the rock

[00:04:54.04]
and release liquid ethane,

[00:04:56.08]
the main feedstock for making plastic.

[00:05:01.00]
But from the very start
of the Shell project,

[00:05:03.09]
Pennsylvanians have been
divided about the idea.

[00:05:07.02]
- Pennsylvania residents
have a constitutional

[00:05:10.00]
right to clean air.

[00:05:11.04]
- The petrochemical manufacturing industry

[00:05:14.01]
that is waiting to be born

[00:05:15.09]
will bring economic growth
greater than Pennsylvania

[00:05:18.02]
has already seen from the drilling.

[00:05:19.09]
- No person's job has a right to make me,

[00:05:23.00]
my family and my neighbors sick.

[00:05:25.04]
- The further use of
Pennsylvania natural gas

[00:05:27.08]
is necessary for greater job creation.

[00:05:30.02]
- It's a mystery to me why
we would permit any of it!

[00:05:33.09]
- We need this stuff,
we need the polyethylene.

[00:05:38.03]
We use it every day.

[00:05:42.03]
- [Peter] Whether or
not there's any shortage

[00:05:44.00]
of plastic being made is
another bone of contention,

[00:05:47.07]
partly because the sheer
volume of gas being extracted

[00:05:51.06]
has spawned plans for more
ethane crackers that would add

[00:05:55.06]
to what critics say is already
a global surplus of plastic,

[00:06:00.04]
a surplus that has many
scientists concerned

[00:06:03.06]
about what it's used for.

[00:06:05.03]
- Packaging, beverage containers,

[00:06:07.07]
and that accounts for 40% of
all the plastics being made.

[00:06:11.05]
That is the major driver

[00:06:13.05]
of the expansion of
plastic production now.

[00:06:16.08]
At its current rate of growth,

[00:06:19.00]
plastics production
will quadruple by 2050.

[00:06:21.09]
If that happens, then by 2030,

[00:06:24.06]
which is when the IPCC tells us we need

[00:06:27.02]
to cut global emissions nearly in half,

[00:06:30.06]
plastics alone will be producing
as much greenhouse gases

[00:06:34.05]
as 291 large coal-fired power plants.

[00:06:41.02]
- [Peter] In the end,
construction of the giant plant

[00:06:44.00]
went forward without delay.

[00:06:46.03]
But debate over the government's
embrace of the project

[00:06:49.03]
continues, in part because of
the state's industrial past.

[00:06:54.09]
- I am a former commercial lender

[00:06:57.03]
and was president of an
international importing company

[00:07:00.09]
that supplied the steel industry.

[00:07:02.09]
There's so much data about the
economics showing the harms

[00:07:07.09]
and the poor payouts that
will come through plastics.

[00:07:12.05]
- The capacity to produce
ethylene and polyethylene

[00:07:15.09]
in the United States has
increased by more than 50%.

[00:07:20.01]
At the same time, China
and other Asian countries

[00:07:23.07]
have also been vastly expanding

[00:07:26.00]
their ability to produce plastic.

[00:07:28.04]
There is way more capacity

[00:07:30.03]
to produce plastic than
there is demand right now.

[00:07:33.08]
- And so the long-term
prospects of success financially

[00:07:37.07]
of this strategy aren't good.

[00:07:40.00]
- I can't believe that these
people who are our leaders

[00:07:44.00]
would be entrusted to make these decisions

[00:07:47.01]
on the heels of the '80s
and the steel industry

[00:07:50.02]
and the collapse of it.

[00:07:51.07]
And here they are making
the same choice again.

[00:07:55.05]
- There may be 5,000 workers there now,

[00:07:58.03]
but that only lasts for a couple of years

[00:08:00.05]
and then it's done.

[00:08:01.07]
- I will tell you, I think
Shell, in and of themselves,

[00:08:06.05]
they did a great job.

[00:08:07.07]
They're giving reports out,

[00:08:09.03]
they're being very
transparent with the public.

[00:08:11.07]
- The leadership made a decision
to pursue this industry.

[00:08:15.05]
That decision was made
behind closed doors.

[00:08:18.02]
- They've engaged with
the community to the point

[00:08:20.06]
where people are very
excited about the prospects

[00:08:23.02]
of this facility opening up
and others opening up as well.

[00:08:26.08]
[industrial tool hammering]

[00:08:29.02]
- [Peter] With the plastic
plant still under construction

[00:08:32.01]
and the dust far from settled
over the decision to build it,

[00:08:35.09]
lawmakers squared off over a second

[00:08:38.07]
government subsidy Bill, House Bill 732,

[00:08:42.09]
a bill intended to attract
more petrochemical plants

[00:08:46.06]
like Shell's ethane cracker.

[00:08:48.06]
- So what is gonna allow us

[00:08:50.07]
to grow Pennsylvania all
across the 67 counties?

[00:08:56.09]
It's the use of natural gas.

[00:08:59.04]
- My legislation seeks
to replicate the success

[00:09:02.00]
of the currently under
construction project

[00:09:04.04]
of the cracker plant just
outside of Pittsburgh.

[00:09:06.08]
- There's projects across
this entire commonwealth

[00:09:10.07]
that could benefit from
a project like that.

[00:09:13.00]
- It stands to attract
petrochemical manufacturers

[00:09:15.09]
from around the world...

[00:09:17.04]
- ...giving this generation of
Pennsylvania working families

[00:09:21.01]
a shot at a good-paying job.

[00:09:23.02]
- House Bill 732 is the transformative

[00:09:27.00]
opportunity of a generation.

[00:09:29.02]
- The natural gas industry

[00:09:31.08]
is a great thing for our environment.

[00:09:33.06]
The footprint that a natural gas pad has,

[00:09:37.07]
as opposed to a coal mine
or strip mine, is dramatic.

[00:09:40.09]
- It was an opportunity
to not just, you know,

[00:09:43.03]
create the energy but manufacture products

[00:09:46.01]
based on and used with
those building blocks,

[00:09:49.01]
those petrochemical building blocks.

[00:09:53.03]
- The people that are living in it,

[00:09:55.04]
that have the well sites
close to their home,

[00:09:58.02]
they love having it there

[00:10:00.00]
'cause it's bringing
more wealth to the area.

[00:10:02.03]
- We currently have 32
well pads around our home.

[00:10:05.01]
We have compressor stations,
pigging stations,

[00:10:08.01]
residual waste ponds,
residual waste tanks.

[00:10:10.09]
There is no way for us
to get away from this.

[00:10:14.04]
My two youngest seem to
have the most impacts

[00:10:16.04]
just because they're younger.

[00:10:17.08]
Nosebleeds, they've all had skin issues.

[00:10:21.00]
My third son has the worst impacts.

[00:10:23.05]
He had raging nosebleeds,
and he would have them

[00:10:26.04]
two and three times a day
and he would get pale.

[00:10:30.01]
I realized like, oh wait,

[00:10:31.05]
I can't keep the windows open at night

[00:10:33.04]
because they were all fracking.

[00:10:34.09]
- This is indeed a handout to
the petrochemical industry.

[00:10:38.07]
Other industry can help our economy,

[00:10:41.07]
can help stabilize our state.

[00:10:43.02]
Not an industry that has been harmful,

[00:10:45.05]
is still harmful...

[00:10:46.07]
- [Peter] Heated debates
over subsidies for the gas

[00:10:49.01]
and petrochemical industry
center not just on jobs,

[00:10:53.03]
but what kind of future

[00:10:54.07]
and quality of life the
development leads to.

[00:10:57.09]
- And you know what happens if
we don't do this tax credit?

[00:11:02.09]
These jobs aren't created,

[00:11:04.08]
these investments aren't made,

[00:11:06.07]
and the Commonwealth gets zero.

[00:11:08.04]
When you're looking for a
job to support your family,

[00:11:10.03]
you don't care about
Republican or Democrat.

[00:11:12.09]
You don't care about a
tax incentive or anything.

[00:11:14.03]
You care about you have food on the table.

[00:11:16.05]
- It's not just about
putting food on the table.

[00:11:19.02]
It's about creating good jobs

[00:11:21.06]
that don't make workers in
our community sick or unsafe.

[00:11:25.05]
It's not an either/or situation.

[00:11:27.09]
And for decades, this state
has had to make that decision.

[00:11:31.08]
- So I had to leave my ivory tower

[00:11:34.05]
and drive quite a distance to see really

[00:11:37.09]
what HB 732 is affirming,

[00:11:41.09]
which is doubling down on frack gas.

[00:11:45.04]
And what I learned among many things

[00:11:47.03]
was that people of that
area in Susquehanna County,

[00:11:50.07]
they didn't drink their own water.

[00:11:53.05]
They had bought into fracking
when it came to their county.

[00:11:58.06]
They believed it would be
a boon for their economy.

[00:12:00.06]
They believed that it would
bring high-paying jobs,

[00:12:03.06]
family-sustaining jobs.

[00:12:05.06]
Several years later,

[00:12:08.02]
the folks who I spoke to,
they got cancer.

[00:12:12.04]
Rare cancers.

[00:12:15.08]
- [Peter] Far from the state capitol,

[00:12:17.05]
opinions are just as divided.

[00:12:19.08]
- It's people against people.

[00:12:21.04]
People that are making money,
people's not making money.

[00:12:24.00]
That's what the gas industry's about.

[00:12:26.00]
They're not drilling here now,

[00:12:27.01]
but once they open that cracker plant

[00:12:29.00]
they're gonna drill in here again.

[00:12:31.03]
- Some people did make money,
but to what cost?

[00:12:34.04]
It impacts other people

[00:12:35.06]
that are getting no financial benefit.

[00:12:37.07]
They've polluted our air,
our water's toxic

[00:12:40.03]
every single quarter.

[00:12:41.09]
They try to normalize everything

[00:12:43.08]
so that people think it's okay.

[00:12:46.02]
And it isn't okay.

[00:12:48.03]
- The whole reason why
fracking is expanding

[00:12:51.03]
is to supply ethane,
make more plastic,

[00:12:53.09]
and some of the health
impacts we see immediately.

[00:12:57.05]
We see upper respiratory effects,

[00:13:01.01]
kids with bloody noses.

[00:13:02.08]
Also, there is a cancer crisis
in southwestern Pennsylvania.

[00:13:07.00]
People who live here, physicians, parents,

[00:13:10.06]
we are all concerned that
fracking may be to blame

[00:13:13.04]
for this spike in rare childhood cancers.

[00:13:18.08]
- [Peter] The gap between
how Pennsylvanians

[00:13:20.09]
view Shell's ethane cracker

[00:13:23.00]
and the drilling for gas to
supply it often comes down

[00:13:26.07]
to how close they live to these
operations-- but not always.

[00:13:31.00]
- 8,000 construction workers,
if not more, on-site.

[00:13:34.08]
You can't have 8,000 people
working down the road

[00:13:38.02]
without it having a
positive economic impact.

[00:13:41.00]
We have a restaurant in town
that has a standing order

[00:13:45.00]
for 500 sandwiches.

[00:13:47.02]
- The arrival of the Shell Project

[00:13:48.05]
really boosted our business.

[00:13:49.05]
It allowed us to build our
business within the community.

[00:13:52.07]
Daily lunches for meetings,

[00:13:55.02]
and at some points we were
up to 500 lunches at a time.

[00:13:57.08]
- The other thing that it really has done

[00:13:58.06]
is put us on the map.

[00:14:00.03]
- A world-class, large
project in Beaver County,

[00:14:04.05]
it was the best marketing
program for Beaver County

[00:14:07.07]
that we ever could have
encountered in our lives.

[00:14:10.07]
The gas is right here, so you
have lower costs of extracting

[00:14:14.01]
that gas and getting it
into a production facility

[00:14:17.06]
which can then make the polyethylene.

[00:14:19.01]
- When the Shell plant starts up,

[00:14:20.08]
the local citizens will have a concern.

[00:14:23.00]
They don't know what to
expect when it's in operation.

[00:14:26.04]
I think they have every
right to be concerned.

[00:14:28.09]
It's their neighborhood,
it's their neighbors.

[00:14:32.03]
- It'd be great if we could
all be sitting in Starbucks

[00:14:33.09]
on our laptops, making a living

[00:14:35.08]
trading bitcoins while
people serve us coffee.

[00:14:38.06]
But that's not the way the world works.

[00:14:40.06]
You have to make things.

[00:14:42.02]
[marching band music]

[00:14:43.07]
- All of our towns here basically
had a steel mill in them.

[00:14:47.08]
I swam in orange water
from acid mine drainage.

[00:14:52.09]
We have been around resource
extraction our entire lives.

[00:14:56.04]
All we ask is that if you're gonna do it,

[00:14:59.02]
you do it as environmentally
sensitive as you can

[00:15:01.09]
and that the value-add is here.

[00:15:06.09]
- [Peter] As to how much value-added

[00:15:09.00]
the natural gas industry has
brought to the local economy,

[00:15:12.07]
recent data from the federal government

[00:15:14.09]
has only intensified the debate.

[00:15:17.01]
- The counties in Ohio,
Pennsylvania and West Virginia

[00:15:20.09]
that are the sources

[00:15:23.00]
of more than 90% of all the natural gas

[00:15:25.08]
produced in Appalachia,

[00:15:27.07]
did not see significant
growth in jobs and income,

[00:15:30.09]
and actually lost population.

[00:15:33.02]
These are not labor-intensive industries.

[00:15:35.05]
They're capital-intensive.

[00:15:36.09]
They just don't hire that
many workers to begin with.

[00:15:39.09]
- The basic fundamentals of the market

[00:15:42.04]
are leading people away
from investing in this,

[00:15:46.05]
and that's why they keep
appealing to subsidies.

[00:15:50.06]
- [Peter] With construction of the cracker

[00:15:52.01]
soon to be finished

[00:15:53.04]
and more wells being drilled to feed it,

[00:15:56.00]
concerns about the exposure of work crews

[00:15:58.08]
to radioactivity has
added to the controversy.

[00:16:02.03]
[dramatic music]

[00:16:03.01]
- [Reporter] A new study
by Harvard researchers

[00:16:04.08]
shows radiation levels
up to 12 miles downwind

[00:16:07.09]
of drilling sites can be
significantly higher than...

[00:16:10.08]
- The American dream is
to get a good-paying job,

[00:16:13.07]
be able to provide for your
family, do it safely, come home.

[00:16:17.03]
This industry does not
provide that. Period.

[00:16:20.06]
- I've worked in that industry 40 years,

[00:16:23.05]
and no one can deny that
I don't know how it works.

[00:16:26.07]
Drilling these wells, they're
bringing up chunks of uranium

[00:16:31.02]
and they're not looking at the
high levels of radioactivity.

[00:16:35.06]
- Now I've been informed,
and you've been exposing me

[00:16:39.03]
by proxy to all these hazardous chemicals,

[00:16:42.01]
and I've been exposing my kids by proxy

[00:16:44.02]
to all these hazardous chemicals

[00:16:45.09]
by just wearing my clothes into work

[00:16:47.05]
and bringing 'em home and
throwing 'em in the washer.

[00:16:49.08]
That's not right.
I didn't sign up for that.

[00:16:52.01]
[dramatic music]

[00:16:52.09]
- [Reporter] After 6 years
and more than $6 billion

[00:16:55.06]
to build, Shell's ethane cracker plant

[00:16:57.07]
is finally up and
running in Beaver County.

[00:17:00.04]
- [Peter] With the Shell plant
built and making plastic,

[00:17:03.06]
hope remains that it will
bring the economic renaissance

[00:17:06.07]
that politicians promised.

[00:17:09.04]
But with thousands of
construction workers now laid off

[00:17:13.01]
and a noticeable dip in local commerce,

[00:17:15.08]
there is also uncertainty.

[00:17:17.09]
- I got to see this thing from start

[00:17:19.02]
to pretty much finish,
and I got to see

[00:17:21.01]
what was here prior to the cracker plant.

[00:17:23.01]
It's kind of like
renovating a house, right?

[00:17:25.00]
They came in, they took something
old and they made it new.

[00:17:28.02]
It's gonna bring a lot of jobs,
a lot of money to the area.

[00:17:30.08]
The economy's gonna be boosted.

[00:17:32.00]
So again, it's all good.

[00:17:34.08]
[upbeat country music]

[00:17:37.08]
♪ Happy days are coming again ♪

[00:17:40.09]
♪ The frackings a-crackin' ♪

[00:17:42.03]
♪ And the money'll roll in ♪

[00:17:46.02]
♪ They got a job for me,
for you and for him ♪

[00:17:49.07]
♪ The town's gonna be boomin' again ♪

[00:17:55.07]
♪ Food on the table ♪

[00:17:57.00]
♪ A good-payin' job ♪

[00:17:58.05]
♪ Motels and hotels and restaurants ♪

[00:18:02.01]
♪ Polyethylene to save the day ♪

[00:18:04.09]
♪ Happy, happy, happy days ♪

[00:18:10.02]
♪ Well we built the plants ♪

[00:18:11.06]
♪ The boom's come and gone ♪

[00:18:13.08]
♪ Doors are locked and windows drawn ♪

[00:18:17.06]
♪ What are we supposed to do ♪

[00:18:20.00]
♪ Now that the jobs again are few ♪

[00:18:26.00]
[downbeat instrumental music]

[00:18:31.05]
- [Peter] When it comes
to creating new jobs,

[00:18:33.09]
which industries to help boost,

[00:18:36.02]
and the real-world impacts

[00:18:37.09]
they can have much further downstream,

[00:18:40.08]
policymakers have choices.

[00:18:43.03]
- Pennsylvania has been long known

[00:18:46.04]
as the energy capital of the world,

[00:18:48.03]
and in renewable energy altogether

[00:18:50.01]
we do have about 10,000 jobs.

[00:18:51.07]
And that's pretty remarkable

[00:18:52.09]
when you think about only a half a percent

[00:18:55.06]
of our energy comes from
solar in Pennsylvania.

[00:18:58.09]
- Think of the money and the billions

[00:19:00.05]
and trillions of dollars they're dumping

[00:19:01.08]
into the oil and gas industry.

[00:19:03.05]
Why haven't we even thought about putting

[00:19:05.04]
just a little bit of that
money towards solar power,

[00:19:08.03]
towards wind power?

[00:19:09.06]
Why haven't we thought
about renewable resources?

[00:19:12.06]
I mean, that's a freaking no-brainer.

[00:19:14.08]
- Those technologies have now been proven,

[00:19:17.03]
and they're some of the fastest growing

[00:19:18.08]
technologies in the world.

[00:19:21.09]
- The number of potential jobs associated

[00:19:24.02]
with clean energy
technologies and businesses,

[00:19:26.08]
like energy efficiency,

[00:19:29.05]
would dwarf the number of
jobs that are currently

[00:19:32.06]
provided by the natural gas industry

[00:19:35.07]
and the petrochemical industry.

[00:19:42.06]
- [Peter] In a rapidly changing
world, the type of boom

[00:19:45.07]
and bust economics facing
rural Pennsylvanians

[00:19:49.04]
happen across the nation.

[00:19:51.09]
Commercial enterprises die out.
People need new livelihoods.

[00:19:57.01]
Industries compete for government support.

[00:20:00.03]
And, as in Beaver County,
the decision of which

[00:20:03.04]
to support is subject
to political influence.

[00:20:07.01]
Decisions that have long-lasting impact.

[00:20:10.01]
- Roughly 150 petrochemical
plants line the banks

[00:20:14.00]
of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge

[00:20:17.00]
to New Orleans, known as Cancer Alley.

[00:20:20.03]
When we know better, we have
a responsibility to do better.

[00:20:25.06]
[pensive country music]

[00:20:35.06]
- [Peter] The Mississippi
River has long been vital

[00:20:38.00]
to the American economy.

[00:20:40.02]
By 1860, New Orleans
had become the nation's

[00:20:43.03]
third largest city and a major port.

[00:20:46.05]
The region's commerce built
largely on enslaved workers

[00:20:50.06]
and the trade of wealthy
plantation owners.

[00:20:54.01]
But with the end of the
Civil War came change.

[00:20:59.01]
Today, almost a third
of Louisiana citizens

[00:21:01.09]
are descendants of formerly
enslaved Americans.

[00:21:05.08]
And in rural communities along the river,

[00:21:08.03]
many of these residents find themselves

[00:21:10.08]
surrounded by the petrochemical industry.

[00:21:14.00]
Development that's had the steady support

[00:21:16.05]
of the state's political leadership.

[00:21:18.06]
- I'm fifth generation
granddaughter of Harriet Jones,

[00:21:22.07]
and she purchased this land in 1874.

[00:21:27.01]
I've seen a lot of changes,
a lot of changes.

[00:21:30.06]
- We can't eat the fish
in the river anymore

[00:21:32.07]
and my grandfather used to
fish in that same river.

[00:21:35.00]
Fish and shrimp-- can't eat it anymore.

[00:21:38.05]
- A lot of people getting
diagnosed with cancer,

[00:21:40.05]
but when you burying young people,

[00:21:41.08]
when you burying middle-aged people,

[00:21:43.05]
when you burying 50 years old,
60 years old,

[00:21:46.03]
that's not their time.

[00:21:48.02]
♪ I got a crown up in-a the Kingdom, ♪

[00:21:50.09]
♪ Ain't-a that good news ♪

[00:21:54.05]
- [Peter] A thousand miles
downstream from Pennsylvania,

[00:21:57.03]
where the Mississippi
meets the Louisiana bayous,

[00:22:00.04]
the plastic industry, again invited

[00:22:03.04]
by elected office holders,

[00:22:05.02]
has been welcomed by some
but not all.

[00:22:09.00]
And, as in rural Pennsylvania,
the issue is over

[00:22:12.03]
the choice of which
industry was brought in.

[00:22:15.02]
- Formosa is proposing to
invest $9.4 billion in Louisiana

[00:22:20.07]
to construct and operate what will be one

[00:22:22.09]
of the most innovative
single-site ethylene

[00:22:26.03]
and propylene production
facilities in the world.

[00:22:30.01]
[pensive instrumenal music]

[00:22:32.01]
- [Peter] Whether building
another petrochemical plant,

[00:22:34.09]
this one to make plastic,
would be an economic boon

[00:22:38.05]
or only add to the region's troubles

[00:22:41.02]
depends on who's talking.

[00:22:42.07]
- The opportunity that
this affords Louisiana

[00:22:46.01]
is unmeasurable.

[00:22:48.00]
The clothes we have on
are made of chemicals.

[00:22:50.09]
The shoes that I have on
are made from chemicals.

[00:22:54.06]
So, we're all part of this industry.

[00:22:57.05]
- This project is going to bring in

[00:22:59.04]
8,000 construction jobs at its peak.

[00:23:02.02]
- Petrochemical industry has allowed me

[00:23:04.06]
to raise my two kids, have
them go to very good schools

[00:23:08.01]
in Baton Rouge,
and graduate from college.

[00:23:10.07]
- Formosa have funded many, many programs

[00:23:13.07]
for the students of our parish.

[00:23:15.09]
They committed to forming
the FG Workforce Academy

[00:23:18.08]
to train our residents to
work at their facility.

[00:23:21.07]
- Would you want a plant
like this to locate

[00:23:25.02]
less than a mile from your
house and your side door?

[00:23:29.06]
I have Nucor in my front door,
Occidental in my back door.

[00:23:34.05]
- And they got me in the middle of it.

[00:23:36.02]
I can't go get some fresh air.

[00:23:38.00]
You know, most people say,
"I think I'll go outside

[00:23:40.05]
"and sit on the porch
and get some fresh air."

[00:23:41.07]
You come outside now and
you might get a disease.

[00:23:46.01]
- They're saying that they're
going to get rid of plastic,

[00:23:48.04]
you know, they're trying to
get rid of plastic straws

[00:23:50.01]
and all these other stuff,

[00:23:51.09]
but the plants are still coming in.

[00:23:53.08]
Nobody came to the people in the community

[00:23:57.00]
and said, "How do you feel about this?"

[00:23:59.09]
We're never asked.

[00:24:01.02]
The deals are already made,

[00:24:03.01]
and when we hear about, it's on TV.

[00:24:05.01]
- And all the plastic that's in the river!

[00:24:08.07]
It's too much plastic.

[00:24:10.03]
We don't have to drink our
water out of a plastic jug.

[00:24:12.05]
You can always do something else

[00:24:13.09]
besides all of this plastic.

[00:24:15.05]
There's too much.

[00:24:19.00]
[pensive instrumental music]

[00:24:21.05]
- [Peter] Pollution from the
many petrochemical plants

[00:24:24.01]
along a stretch of the Mississippi River

[00:24:26.01]
known as Cancer Alley is
not the only issue at play.

[00:24:31.00]
Many of the plants exist on
former sugarcane plantations

[00:24:35.04]
including those surrounding St. James,

[00:24:38.03]
a community originally founded as Freetown

[00:24:41.06]
by African Americans
emancipated from slavery.

[00:24:47.07]
The local citizens became further incensed

[00:24:50.05]
after learning that Formosa
would build on top of sites

[00:24:54.01]
where enslaved plantation
workers were buried,

[00:24:57.06]
likely their own ancestors.

[00:25:00.07]
But it's the growing loss now

[00:25:02.07]
of family members and neighbors,

[00:25:05.04]
and fears for the health
of their children,

[00:25:07.03]
that has them filling meeting
halls at public hearings

[00:25:10.04]
to stop the Formosa
plant from being built.

[00:25:13.03]
- I wish they had one
of you women up there,

[00:25:16.05]
and I think we would stand a fair chance.

[00:25:19.08]
Because women, they think
about their children

[00:25:24.03]
and their grandchildren and
what do they really want.

[00:25:28.05]
- I sat down the other day

[00:25:31.05]
and I took out a page

[00:25:34.01]
and numbered it from 1 to 50.

[00:25:38.00]
I got to 35,

[00:25:39.08]
and that's 35 people
that I know personally

[00:25:44.01]
who have died from
cancer just in this area.

[00:25:47.08]
- The plant Formosa that's
coming in the fifth district

[00:25:51.03]
is less than two miles from
the nearest St. Louis Academy,

[00:25:56.03]
where these are children from
Head Start to third grade

[00:26:02.03]
that when they have
recess they go outside.

[00:26:05.00]
So, they're breathing in your chemicals

[00:26:06.08]
that you're letting out into the air.

[00:26:10.09]
- [Peter] In a very different environment,

[00:26:12.07]
their state capitol in Baton Rouge,

[00:26:15.03]
the project has had steady support.

[00:26:17.07]
- I see a lot of plants
coming in Louisiana

[00:26:20.02]
in the last, you know, 15 years,

[00:26:22.04]
and the one common denominator

[00:26:25.06]
is the natural gas.

[00:26:28.00]
So I think this would be a a big, big help

[00:26:31.06]
to St. James Parish and its
economy and its residence.

[00:26:35.02]
[triumphant music]

[00:26:37.00]
- [Peter] Formosa, a chemical
company based in Taiwan,

[00:26:40.08]
wants to build their complex in Louisiana

[00:26:43.02]
not only for the cheap gas,

[00:26:45.05]
but because of generous tax
breaks they've been offered

[00:26:49.06]
and their success in getting
the approval of state agencies.

[00:26:53.05]
- ...and respectfully requests
the Louisiana Department

[00:26:56.01]
of Environmental Quality
approve our air permits.

[00:27:00.04]
- [Peter] Dueling testimonies
have become routine

[00:27:02.09]
at public hearings on such permits,

[00:27:05.04]
especially around emissions data

[00:27:07.08]
provided by companies seeking the permit.

[00:27:10.08]
- This project will be designed

[00:27:12.03]
and engineered to minimize emissions

[00:27:15.00]
and meet all applicable
ambient air standards.

[00:27:18.09]
- So with respect to Formosa specifically,

[00:27:22.07]
there will be 95 tons per year

[00:27:25.09]
of cancer-causing substances
released into the environment.

[00:27:29.05]
And we know that...

[00:27:30.04]
The complex that Formosa wants
to build would be massive.

[00:27:34.00]
14 different units on a 2000 acre site

[00:27:38.01]
that collectively would emit
more than 800 tons per year

[00:27:42.03]
of toxic air pollution.

[00:27:45.08]
- [Peter] The air pollutants
that Formosa Plastics

[00:27:48.01]
would be allowed to emit would add

[00:27:50.01]
to what prevailing winds already carry

[00:27:52.08]
from the other petrochemical
plants surrounding St. James.

[00:27:56.08]
- Benzene, formaldehyde
and ethylene oxide.

[00:28:00.09]
And Formosa is permitted
to emit large quantities

[00:28:04.06]
of all three of those pollutants,

[00:28:07.02]
which are all known to be carcinogens.

[00:28:10.02]
- DEQ failed to evaluate
the cumulative impacts

[00:28:13.07]
of toxic air emissions
from the proposed...

[00:28:17.01]
- [Peter] Wilma Subra is a chemist

[00:28:18.09]
and a recipient of a
MacArthur Genius Award

[00:28:21.07]
whose expert testimony is sought worldwide

[00:28:24.09]
on the health effects
of chemical emissions.

[00:28:27.04]
- Frequently I'm fighting a
lot of the industry people,

[00:28:31.02]
and frequently the
local people in the area

[00:28:34.06]
work for those industries.

[00:28:36.06]
I'll get a phone call

[00:28:37.09]
and they'll say,
"You know, I always opposed

[00:28:42.01]
"what you were saying,
but my wife or my child

[00:28:46.08]
"or my mother just came down
with cancer or leukemia."

[00:28:53.05]
- I didn't even know these
chemical plants did these things.

[00:28:55.07]
The years we cooked and my mom

[00:28:57.04]
and my daddy cooked with that water

[00:28:59.03]
and drank the water,

[00:29:01.01]
who knows if that water had
stuff in it that made us sick.

[00:29:05.09]
- We call and tell 'em
we smelled something,

[00:29:08.01]
and they maybe come two weeks later

[00:29:10.04]
and when they come they say,
"We don't smell nothin'."

[00:29:12.08]
I guess you don't. You're two weeks late.

[00:29:15.08]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:29:17.08]
- [Peter] In 2019, in addition
to a $1.5 billion tax break

[00:29:23.01]
being offered to Formosa Plastics,

[00:29:25.04]
further support for the
petrochemical industry

[00:29:28.02]
came in the form of House Bill 510.

[00:29:31.06]
- House Bill 510 authorizes
facilities regulated by DEQ

[00:29:35.07]
to conduct voluntary health, safety

[00:29:38.01]
and environmental audits.

[00:29:40.05]
- [Peter] The bill would allow
petrochemical facilities,

[00:29:43.03]
including the proposed
Formosa Plastics complex,

[00:29:46.07]
to voluntarily self-audit
certain pollution events,

[00:29:51.00]
keeping them confidential,
and face reduced penalties

[00:29:54.09]
from the state's Department
of Environmental Quality,

[00:29:57.08]
the DEQ.

[00:29:59.00]
- This opens the door for abuse
more than opening things up,

[00:30:05.00]
because what is being
done in these facilities

[00:30:07.01]
that affect the people
that live around them,

[00:30:09.04]
they need to know what's going on.

[00:30:11.01]
- In Oklahoma, not only do they call it

[00:30:14.02]
the Pollution Secrecy Act,

[00:30:15.07]
but they call it the "right
to know nothing" bill.

[00:30:19.06]
And the citizens are not
gonna have this information

[00:30:22.04]
available to them.

[00:30:24.00]
- It opens up so many avenues for abuse.

[00:30:27.05]
It ties the hands of DEQ.

[00:30:29.06]
- DEQ still can go in

[00:30:31.05]
and do their job whether there's
a voluntary audit or not.

[00:30:34.02]
They can still send in enforcement.

[00:30:36.03]
- This says they can't even request it.

[00:30:38.02]
- I'm sorry?

[00:30:39.00]
- This says they can't even request it.

[00:30:42.05]
That's kind of broad, would you think?

[00:30:45.05]
- Yes sir.

[00:30:48.00]
- It was a coverup.

[00:30:49.05]
The concern was, for me,

[00:30:51.02]
was how do you know these plants

[00:30:52.05]
are going to do the right thing?

[00:30:54.05]
They're a powerful group.

[00:30:55.04]
I mean they have a lot of money,

[00:30:56.09]
and there's a lot of the representatives

[00:30:58.09]
are from that industry and
they have a natural instinct

[00:31:01.08]
to protect their bread and butter.

[00:31:04.02]
- You know that my overall
concern is for the safety

[00:31:08.07]
and the health of our residents,

[00:31:12.00]
and anything that compromises
that is a problem for me.

[00:31:16.04]
- And I understand that.

[00:31:17.09]
You and I have had conversations
at lengthy committees.

[00:31:20.04]
- We've had lengthy conversations

[00:31:21.09]
about water and air, right?

[00:31:24.01]
- And I agree with you on your water.

[00:31:27.05]
- You agreed with me the other day.

[00:31:28.09]
and so you want me to agree with you now?

[00:31:29.09]
Is that what you're saying?

[00:31:31.01]
- Well that would be nice if
you would reciprocate that.

[00:31:34.08]
- I don't know about that, McFarland.

[00:31:37.03]
Self-reporting, I mean how
frequently does that really work?

[00:31:42.02]
If it's a matter of lives over dollars,

[00:31:45.07]
I'll take the lives every time.

[00:31:47.00]
- My name is Tyler Gray,
and I'm the president

[00:31:50.00]
of the Louisiana Mid Continent
Oil and Gas Association.

[00:31:53.06]
- [Peter] Tyler Gray is
among the many lobbyists

[00:31:55.08]
and legislators who attend the industry's

[00:31:58.05]
annual Oil and Gas Day event,

[00:32:01.01]
right outside the Louisiana
State Legislature.

[00:32:04.03]
Families are invited, speeches are given

[00:32:07.00]
by politicians vying for
the industry's support,

[00:32:10.07]
but it's inside the capital
where the real work gets done.

[00:32:14.04]
- We were concerned

[00:32:15.07]
that the confidentiality was overly broad.

[00:32:18.09]
- Seated beside
Representative Stuart Bishop,

[00:32:21.09]
who introduced House
Bill 510, is Tyler Gray,

[00:32:25.08]
and the oil and gas industry he represents

[00:32:28.04]
is a top contributor of
election campaign money

[00:32:31.05]
to Representative Bishop

[00:32:33.02]
and to many other of
the state's legislators.

[00:32:36.01]
- Most of the attention
on corporate donations

[00:32:39.09]
in the political process
focus on corporate donations

[00:32:43.04]
at the federal level,

[00:32:44.09]
in part because those
are much easier to track.

[00:32:47.04]
But in fact, when you
look below the surface

[00:32:49.06]
at state and community levels,

[00:32:51.09]
those corporate donations don't go away.

[00:32:55.00]
They just get more and more focused

[00:32:56.06]
and they have a bigger and bigger impact.

[00:33:00.06]
- Rep. Bishop moves final
passage of the bills.

[00:33:02.05]
Many in favor of final
passage, vote "Yes."

[00:33:04.01]
Those opposed, vote "No."

[00:33:05.04]
The clerk will open the machine.

[00:33:07.06]
There were 46 yays and 40 nays.

[00:33:11.02]
- [Peter] The majority of legislators

[00:33:13.04]
voted for the voluntary audit,

[00:33:15.05]
but in the end, not by
a wide enough margin

[00:33:18.06]
to pass the bill.

[00:33:22.02]
[jazz music]
[people singing]

[00:33:23.04]
Then, in August of 2021,
residents of St. James Parish

[00:33:28.02]
celebrated news that
Formosa's permit to build

[00:33:31.07]
was being suspended,

[00:33:33.05]
a ruling considered temporary by Formosa

[00:33:36.06]
and the policymakers who
championed the project.

[00:33:39.06]
- Yeah, I mean obviously
there's some challenges.

[00:33:42.05]
They've reopened the permitting process

[00:33:44.07]
with the Corps of Engineers,

[00:33:46.09]
and certainly that's gonna delay.

[00:33:50.05]
- [Peter] A year later,
the delay was further extended

[00:33:53.07]
when a district judge
revoked Formosa's air permits

[00:33:57.03]
on grounds of environmental justice,

[00:34:00.01]
adding more uncertainty as to when

[00:34:03.01]
and where the plant might get built.

[00:34:05.06]
- We keep buying plastic, using plastic.

[00:34:09.02]
So the question is,

[00:34:10.05]
are they gonna make it here or elsewhere?

[00:34:13.08]
And if we're going to be producing that,

[00:34:16.09]
then that creates jobs for us.

[00:34:20.03]
- [Peter] There's no question
that plastic is crucial

[00:34:23.01]
for many things we need,

[00:34:25.00]
and that the industry can
provide jobs for some.

[00:34:28.05]
But given there's a global
oversupply of it being made

[00:34:31.08]
with serious pollution involved,

[00:34:34.03]
St. James residents wonder,

[00:34:36.06]
what's going on in their government?

[00:34:38.03]
- Our officials have
voted not just this plant,

[00:34:42.02]
but have voted three
more plants in already,

[00:34:45.06]
and I feel that enough is enough.

[00:34:49.02]
- Article IX of the
Louisiana Constitution states

[00:34:52.09]
that the Louisiana government
and everybody who work for it,

[00:34:57.02]
number one priority is
to protect the people.

[00:35:00.03]
- As the former commander
of Joint Task Force Katrina

[00:35:03.09]
and the Commanding General of
the US 2nd Infantry Division,

[00:35:07.07]
Russell Honore is known to
the people of Louisiana.

[00:35:11.03]
- I spent 37 years in the Army

[00:35:12.07]
helped to defend this country,
and came back to Louisiana

[00:35:15.06]
and found out our democracy
have been hijacked

[00:35:18.07]
by a bunch of plants.

[00:35:20.06]
Where are the state representatives?

[00:35:22.08]
Go find out who give money to them.

[00:35:25.02]
[upbeat gospel soul music]

[00:35:27.07]
♪ Look what the Lord has done ♪

[00:35:31.01]
♪ Look what the Lord has done ♪

[00:35:36.01]
- I'm not gonna be silent anymore.

[00:35:38.04]
I'm not gonna watch my
community just be annihilated

[00:35:42.03]
and people are saying, "Oh, that's jobs,

[00:35:44.02]
"that's people livelihoods."

[00:35:46.00]
We don't have to have that
industry to have a livelihood.

[00:35:49.07]
- I think it's all about money.

[00:35:51.02]
I think money play a big part in them

[00:35:54.08]
letting these industry come in here.

[00:35:56.07]
- Me personally, I'm
gonna get around here,

[00:35:58.09]
I'm gonna try to change
something with our elections,

[00:36:01.00]
because we need people in the office

[00:36:03.06]
that going to love people and not money.

[00:36:07.06]
- If there's some way you could separate,

[00:36:10.02]
and have someone run for office

[00:36:12.03]
that doesn't depend on
contributions from industry...

[00:36:16.03]
- In this part of the world
we call that shenanigans.

[00:36:20.00]
It is definitely going on.

[00:36:22.00]
[instrumental doowop music]

[00:36:23.06]
♪ Hey legislators up on the Hill ♪

[00:36:25.05]
♪ Are you keeping a watchful eye ♪

[00:36:27.07]
♪ On petrochemical plants ♪

[00:36:29.07]
♪ And their oil and gas supply? ♪

[00:36:32.07]
♪ Industry and government ♪

[00:36:35.00]
♪ You've become so entwined ♪

[00:36:37.03]
♪ Is this what the founders had in mind? ♪

[00:36:42.05]
♪ Mom and pop just can't compete ♪

[00:36:44.07]
♪ With industry's campaign cash ♪

[00:36:47.02]
♪ Whose big donations don't come free ♪

[00:36:49.05]
♪ But come with a very big catch ♪

[00:36:52.00]
♪ Lawmakers must pass big tax breaks ♪

[00:36:54.03]
♪ And law's suitably lax ♪

[00:36:56.03]
♪ On the flow of industrial waste ♪

[00:37:01.06]
♪ So industry grows ♪

[00:37:02.08]
♪ And lawmakers say there's
no other way to make jobs ♪

[00:37:06.04]
♪ Creating bigger profits ♪

[00:37:08.07]
♪ And bigger campaign contributions ♪

[00:37:11.03]
♪ More tax breaks, smoke
stacks spread across the land ♪

[00:37:15.03]
♪ The people lose out
from these shenanigans ♪

[00:37:25.05]
- [Peter] Where office holders

[00:37:26.07]
get their election campaign money is,

[00:37:29.02]
to a degree, public information.

[00:37:32.00]
And not surprisingly, those
who routinely support bills

[00:37:35.06]
to benefit a particular industry

[00:37:37.09]
receive generous contributions
from that industry--

[00:37:41.05]
money they might need to get elected.

[00:37:45.04]
Over his career in office,

[00:37:47.02]
Mike Turzai received several
hundred thousand dollars

[00:37:50.07]
from the oil, gas and
petrochemical industries,

[00:37:54.04]
and after resigning as
Speaker of the House

[00:37:57.01]
he started a new job as general counsel

[00:38:00.08]
for one of the largest
providers of natural gas.

[00:38:04.00]
Senator Jake Corman.

[00:38:05.07]
In 2019, he successfully halted

[00:38:08.02]
a ban on single-use plastic bags.

[00:38:11.01]
He too has received
large campaign donations

[00:38:14.02]
from the industries involved.

[00:38:17.02]
Overall, since 2008, candidates

[00:38:20.04]
and office holders in
Pennsylvania and Louisiana

[00:38:23.05]
have received tens of millions

[00:38:26.01]
of campaign dollars from
these same industries.

[00:38:29.05]
- If someone gives you a very large check

[00:38:31.09]
and they want you to return
their phone call, you will.

[00:38:35.07]
I know this because my
mother expects that.

[00:38:39.03]
- There's a lot of good
people in both the House

[00:38:41.01]
and the Senate who wanna do well.

[00:38:43.05]
It's just you get these
outside forces, you know.

[00:38:46.07]
They have an agenda,

[00:38:48.00]
and if you go against these businesses

[00:38:49.02]
they will put somebody in your race

[00:38:50.08]
and raise a lot of money
to run against you.

[00:38:52.09]
- They can dump a lot of money,

[00:38:55.09]
big time money into people,

[00:38:57.01]
and that's how many of my
colleagues have won before.

[00:39:00.02]
- When you talk to people one-on-one,

[00:39:02.08]
many of my colleagues, they believe

[00:39:05.02]
in whatever the bill is
that you're presenting,

[00:39:07.09]
but they're scared of
not being re-elected.

[00:39:11.01]
- This has gone on for decades.

[00:39:12.05]
It's not Republican or Democrat.

[00:39:14.06]
We've had both Republican
and Democrat governors

[00:39:17.04]
that have sold their soul.

[00:39:20.01]
- [Peter] Campaign money may
or may not buy a person's soul,

[00:39:23.07]
but its influence is not
limited just to legislators.

[00:39:27.06]
Former governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana

[00:39:30.04]
and Tom Corbett of
Pennsylvania each pushed hard

[00:39:33.09]
to lure the giant ethane
crackers to their state,

[00:39:37.03]
and both were on the receiving end

[00:39:39.02]
of big campaign money from
the industries involved.

[00:39:42.05]
- That type of influence

[00:39:44.00]
I believe corrupts the legislative process

[00:39:46.04]
and makes it hard for folks to vote

[00:39:48.04]
how they truly would want to.

[00:39:51.06]
- Most Americans know by now

[00:39:53.04]
that the way our country
runs our elections

[00:39:55.08]
forces office holders and candidates

[00:39:58.04]
to raise very large amounts of money,

[00:40:01.01]
money that most citizens don't have,

[00:40:04.00]
which is why many politicians
turn to big industries,

[00:40:07.06]
special interests and wealthy donors.

[00:40:11.08]
It's a gold mine for
media outlets, network,

[00:40:15.01]
cable television and social media.

[00:40:19.04]
Our electoral system
is also very lucrative

[00:40:22.03]
for the lobbyists who
help funnel the money

[00:40:25.02]
from deep-pocket donors.

[00:40:26.07]
- I am not shy about
talking about the benefits

[00:40:29.06]
of this industry, not for the industry,

[00:40:32.01]
but for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

[00:40:34.02]
and for its citizens.

[00:40:35.01]
So, I am more than happy
to go across the street

[00:40:37.04]
and talk to legislators
and regulators and others.

[00:40:40.02]
- As president and CEO, I
mean, my primary responsibility

[00:40:43.08]
is to be the voice of our members.

[00:40:46.06]
And one of the most important places

[00:40:48.05]
to be a voice is not just on
Capitol Hill in Washington DC

[00:40:52.04]
but also in state capitols
around the country.

[00:40:54.07]
- We have a thing called
the First Amendment

[00:40:56.06]
that allows people like myself

[00:40:58.02]
and other people you have spoken to

[00:41:00.05]
to petition their government

[00:41:02.01]
and talk about issues that are
important to their industry.

[00:41:05.04]
In fact, what we do here at
the American Chemistry Council

[00:41:08.01]
is carry out that First Amendment right.

[00:41:10.02]
- There are more lobbyists for frack gas

[00:41:13.05]
then there are state legislators,

[00:41:16.01]
and we are the largest state legislature

[00:41:19.05]
in the country, full-time.

[00:41:20.09]
- Lobby has a lot of influence.

[00:41:23.01]
They do have fundraisers for you.

[00:41:26.03]
Not for me, but for those who
who understand their agenda

[00:41:31.01]
and wanna promote their agenda.

[00:41:32.05]
- I might have to have, you know,

[00:41:35.01]
a hundred people give me money.

[00:41:37.02]
They may raise, they
may have a little small,

[00:41:40.09]
multiple small gatherings of fundraisers.

[00:41:44.02]
And, you know, it's nothing
for those representatives

[00:41:47.05]
or senators to have
$150,000 just sitting there.

[00:41:52.02]
- [Peter] Like in Louisiana,
there are Pennsylvanians

[00:41:54.04]
frustrated with the way things
work in their government.

[00:41:57.07]
A nonpartisan movement
called March on Harrisburg

[00:42:01.05]
has drawn people from across the state,

[00:42:04.01]
a campaign organized by Michael Pollack.

[00:42:07.08]
- What we were doing was throwing $500

[00:42:10.01]
down from the House gallery
onto the House floor,

[00:42:12.05]
and letting them know

[00:42:13.04]
that they need to serve
people and not money.

[00:42:16.00]
Any given day in Harrisburg,

[00:42:17.08]
there's 5 to 10 fundraisers
that are happening.

[00:42:19.09]
Most of those are being
organized by lobbyists

[00:42:21.09]
who work for the fossil fuel industry.

[00:42:24.05]
If you go to the state capitol

[00:42:25.08]
you'll see the reserve parking spot

[00:42:27.04]
in the best parking
garage near the building,

[00:42:29.04]
'cause they run the place.

[00:42:30.06]
- We educate lawmakers.

[00:42:32.04]
Most people probably take
petitioning their government

[00:42:34.07]
for granted, and we don't.

[00:42:36.05]
- The bills start out
in the lobbyists' office

[00:42:38.07]
being written by them.

[00:42:40.01]
They then bring them into
the legislator's office

[00:42:42.07]
and they grease the wheel at
that point with so many things.

[00:42:45.04]
There's, "Oh, let's throw you a fundraiser

[00:42:47.01]
"and bring $50,000 into your campaign."

[00:42:49.05]
- They spend a lot of
money on these campaigns,

[00:42:52.01]
and pretty much they kind of
run a lot of these committees.

[00:42:57.00]
- Bags, I tried to ban
plastic bags in Louisiana.

[00:43:01.06]
That went over like a lead balloon.

[00:43:04.00]
It got killed in committee.

[00:43:06.07]
I couldn't get it out
onto the Senate floor.

[00:43:08.07]
- Who calls the bills up for
the votes is the problem.

[00:43:11.04]
The committee chairs,
the majority leaders,

[00:43:13.07]
the Speaker of the House
and the Senate president--

[00:43:15.08]
if you're not one of those
six people for any one bill,

[00:43:19.00]
it's dead.

[00:43:19.08]
- I can't call a hearing.

[00:43:21.03]
I can't put a bill on the
calendar to run on a committee.

[00:43:24.03]
We can't even bring a bill up for a vote.

[00:43:27.02]
- The dollars speak.

[00:43:29.01]
[whimsical carnival music]

[00:43:31.01]
- [Peter] With the help of lobbyists,

[00:43:32.06]
members in these powerful positions

[00:43:35.00]
raise by far the most campaign cash--

[00:43:38.02]
money they then pass
on to party committees

[00:43:41.05]
that in turn is distributed
to campaigns of other members,

[00:43:45.07]
handouts that have big
influence on which bills

[00:43:49.02]
get passed and which don't.

[00:43:51.00]
- For me, it's just like government

[00:43:55.03]
has lost it's purpose.

[00:43:57.01]
It's supposed to be here
for people, not bottom lines

[00:44:00.06]
and Wall Street and special interests.

[00:44:02.05]
[dramatic music]

[00:44:04.01]
- US Senator Tom Udall is leading the push

[00:44:06.00]
to phase out single-usee
plastics nationwide,

[00:44:08.05]
one of four Congress members backing

[00:44:10.03]
the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.

[00:44:13.06]
- [Peter] As Americans continue to use

[00:44:15.05]
more single-usee plastic per
person than any other nation,

[00:44:20.00]
a trend that also drives the pollution

[00:44:22.05]
involved with making it,

[00:44:24.03]
the question becomes, can
the political will be found

[00:44:28.01]
to solve this ever-growing problem?

[00:44:31.02]
Over 380 million tons of new plastic

[00:44:35.00]
is being made each year,

[00:44:36.09]
and in the US, where
much of it is produced,

[00:44:39.05]
only a small fraction of
the waste is being recycled.

[00:44:44.02]
We're also exporting our single-use debris

[00:44:47.06]
to other countries,

[00:44:49.02]
some with poor waste management,

[00:44:51.07]
where it can end up
where it doesn't belong.

[00:44:57.07]
Proponents of a federal bill called

[00:44:59.09]
the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act

[00:45:03.02]
hope Congress can agree on a solution.

[00:45:05.08]
- It's practical and it's pragmatic.

[00:45:07.07]
It's actually built on
local and state ordinances

[00:45:11.00]
that have actually worked,

[00:45:12.01]
and we're dealing with it
from extraction to waste.

[00:45:14.04]
- It will phase out
unnecessary plastic products.

[00:45:17.03]
It limits exports of plastic
waste to other countries.

[00:45:21.03]
It makes producers responsible
for their plastic waste.

[00:45:25.01]
It puts a moratorium or a pause

[00:45:27.07]
on new and expanded plastic
production facilities.

[00:45:30.03]
- We wanna have a temporary
halt on that with this bill

[00:45:33.04]
to be able to even do an
environmental assessment.

[00:45:37.04]
- [Peter] A bill that would
phase out single-use plastics,

[00:45:40.06]
and thus reduce the need

[00:45:42.04]
for more industrial production to make it,

[00:45:44.09]
has not been popular with the industry.

[00:45:47.01]
- It will risk nearly 900,000 jobs

[00:45:50.04]
and put nearly $400 billion
of economic activity at risk.

[00:45:54.08]
- What you see in this
bill is it's really,

[00:45:56.07]
it's more of a punishment tool
on businesses, on consumers.

[00:46:00.04]
It is trying to change
behavior through punishment.

[00:46:04.05]
- [Peter] Rather than pass laws

[00:46:05.09]
to regulate plastic production

[00:46:08.02]
or phase out single-usee products,

[00:46:10.07]
the industry points to a technology

[00:46:13.02]
they call "advanced recycling."

[00:46:15.04]
- Take used plastic
that has been discarded,

[00:46:18.04]
and really break it down to raw material

[00:46:21.00]
that can be used again
to make new plastics.

[00:46:23.04]
- It's heat, it's chemical recycling,

[00:46:25.07]
so what you're doing is
essentially reversing the process.

[00:46:31.00]
- [Peter] Not all scientists believe

[00:46:32.08]
that chemical recycling is the answer.

[00:46:35.07]
- What they do is they take the plastics

[00:46:37.09]
and they cook them up and gases come out.

[00:46:40.06]
But the problem is that these approaches

[00:46:43.04]
can also make contaminants

[00:46:45.04]
and some of those contaminants are toxic,

[00:46:48.01]
particularly when you have a
chlorine-containing plastic

[00:46:51.00]
in the feed where it's almost
impossible to keep it out.

[00:46:54.09]
- [Peter] Chemical recycling
is part of the growing debate

[00:46:58.01]
over this bill that would
phase out single-use plastic.

[00:47:01.02]
- It's currently only
0.26% of the plastic waste

[00:47:07.00]
is handled by this technology,

[00:47:09.03]
and the plastics industry has suggested

[00:47:11.07]
they wanna have 150 plants in the US.

[00:47:15.00]
That would only handle 5%.

[00:47:17.01]
- Mr. Hartz, what do you say to that?

[00:47:19.00]
- Without being flip, any
innovation has to start somewhere.

[00:47:22.08]
Low-flow toilets, when they started,

[00:47:24.07]
had to be produced at small volumes

[00:47:26.06]
to get to larger ones.

[00:47:27.05]
- If you look at the whole world,

[00:47:29.01]
we're making on order half
a billion tons of plastic.

[00:47:32.08]
And so the number of these
facilities you'd have to have,

[00:47:36.05]
you'd have to have one on every block.

[00:47:39.01]
We have to stop making
plastics that we don't need

[00:47:42.07]
and inventing uses that we
don't need for these plastics.

[00:47:47.05]
- There's a lot that we don't know

[00:47:49.08]
about plastics and health.

[00:47:52.04]
But you know, there's
a lot that we do know,

[00:47:54.07]
particularly about the
chemicals that are in plastics

[00:47:58.05]
and that's what I'm going
to be talking about.

[00:47:59.06]
- [Peter] Pete Myers is
a world-renowned expert

[00:48:02.01]
on the health effects

[00:48:03.03]
of chemicals that cause
endocrine disruption,

[00:48:06.07]
chemicals that can enter our bodies

[00:48:08.06]
from a number of sources
including plastic.

[00:48:11.06]
- Plastic is something
of a paradoxical material

[00:48:14.01]
because it allows modern civilization.

[00:48:17.00]
We get wonderful services from plastic.

[00:48:19.09]
But more and more we realize
that there are chemicals

[00:48:23.04]
essential to most plastics
that are made today

[00:48:26.00]
that leach out and cause
human health problems.

[00:48:29.02]
Endocrine-disrupting
chemicals, they hack hormones,

[00:48:32.07]
and when something disrupts
that process it sets in motion

[00:48:36.08]
a series of problems that can
play out over the lifetime

[00:48:40.04]
of a fetus, if they're
exposed in the womb,

[00:48:42.05]
or they can also affect
adults depending upon

[00:48:44.03]
where they are in their life stage.

[00:48:46.02]
This is a list of today's
hormonally-related diseases.

[00:48:52.02]
- [Peter] Part of the Break
Free bill would mandate

[00:48:55.00]
that packaging be redesigned
to reduce the need for plastic

[00:48:59.08]
and that toxic additives be eliminated

[00:49:02.07]
where plastic is needed,

[00:49:04.07]
and that the plastic
used truly be recyclable.

[00:49:09.04]
- It's estimated that each
of us consumes in our food

[00:49:12.05]
and in the air we breathe,
the water we drink,

[00:49:14.06]
the equivalent of a credit
card worth of plastic

[00:49:17.05]
every single week.

[00:49:19.02]
And so think about that, of
your children consuming those,

[00:49:23.07]
if you will, 52 credit cards a year,

[00:49:26.05]
and all the chemicals that
are embedded in that plastic.

[00:49:31.00]
- [Peter] The bill, after gaining support

[00:49:32.09]
in the House of Representatives,

[00:49:34.07]
became slow to draw
attention in the Senate,

[00:49:37.08]
which proponents say is
due to the steady stream

[00:49:40.09]
of industry lobbyists
who visit the lawmakers.

[00:49:44.00]
- What it's missing is
there's a recognition

[00:49:46.04]
of how vital plastic is for society.

[00:49:49.02]
- I would even argue that the lawmakers

[00:49:51.03]
who support that legislation

[00:49:53.04]
are probably a little tone-deaf today.

[00:49:55.05]
- [Peter] One of the lawmakers

[00:49:56.05]
who supports the
legislation is Jeff Merkley.

[00:49:59.03]
- You know, we all have
around the Capitol,

[00:50:01.00]
we have these blue baskets,
like this one,

[00:50:05.07]
and it says "We recycle".

[00:50:07.09]
And you throw your plastic in there

[00:50:10.07]
and you think you're recycling,
but it's not being recycled.

[00:50:14.04]
So in the bill,
we're producing incentives.

[00:50:17.05]
If you're going to choose to
use plastics in your packaging

[00:50:20.07]
or plastics in your product,
you have to take responsibility

[00:50:23.07]
for making that be recycled.

[00:50:25.09]
- We're seeing an increased
threat to the industry

[00:50:29.00]
based on regulation and
legislation that is now,

[00:50:32.06]
you know, moved from "Oh, we're just gonna

[00:50:35.02]
ban these silly products"

[00:50:37.00]
to "Oh no, we're gonna
actually try to stop

[00:50:39.04]
"the manufacturer of
plastic as a material."

[00:50:42.00]
- When you build new facilities

[00:50:43.06]
you increase the role of plastic.

[00:50:45.06]
The role of plastic
has increased massively

[00:50:48.04]
over the last 20 years.

[00:50:49.07]
When you build new facilities,
site these facilities

[00:50:53.00]
next to low-income or
minority communities,

[00:50:56.02]
you wouldn't wanna live there.

[00:50:58.01]
They put off a lot of fumes.

[00:50:59.07]
Look at the cancer rate

[00:51:01.01]
where these production facilities are.

[00:51:03.03]
No, it's right to call a moratorium

[00:51:05.04]
until the industry can say

[00:51:07.00]
"Well, we can really solve this problem,"

[00:51:09.03]
and we have the science to believe them.

[00:51:13.05]
- [Peter] Since the industrial build-out

[00:51:15.03]
to make plastic began,

[00:51:17.01]
industries opposed to
regulating its production

[00:51:20.03]
have spent hundreds of millions
of dollars sending lobbyists

[00:51:24.01]
to Capitol Hill and state
capitols across the country.

[00:51:27.07]
- There is nothing nefarious about that.

[00:51:29.06]
It is an open and transparent process.

[00:51:31.08]
It is our ability to provide education,

[00:51:35.02]
expertise, resources.

[00:51:38.05]
- Lobbyists don't only bring education

[00:51:41.05]
and expertise about their
clients and their issues,

[00:51:44.06]
they also organize fundraisers.

[00:51:47.04]
- [Peter] Sheila Krumholz
is a research expert

[00:51:49.09]
with OpenSecrets, a non-partisan group

[00:51:53.02]
tracking money in politics
including, in recent elections,

[00:51:57.07]
expenditures by industries
involved with plastic.

[00:52:01.05]
- The oil, gas, and chemical
industries spent $121 million

[00:52:06.05]
on contributions to federal candidates

[00:52:09.07]
and $830 million on lobbying
at the federal level.

[00:52:15.01]
- I'm Cal Dooley, president and CEO...

[00:52:17.00]
- [Peter] The American
Chemistry Council alone

[00:52:19.05]
has spent over $50 million
over the last three years,

[00:52:23.09]
and their member organizations
have successfully lobbied

[00:52:27.04]
to keep cities and states
from banning plastic bags.

[00:52:33.00]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:52:36.03]
Because of the immense influence

[00:52:38.01]
of election campaign money on lawmakers,

[00:52:41.01]
Pennsylvania, Louisiana,
and Washington DC,

[00:52:45.03]
proponents of stronger measures
to curb plastic pollution

[00:52:49.03]
believe the problem is
likely to grow worse

[00:52:52.04]
despite so many localized
efforts to reduce it.

[00:52:57.06]
But there are other countries
taking on this problem.

[00:53:02.05]
[speaking in French]

[00:53:06.08]
In France, as in other
European democracies,

[00:53:10.01]
elections are run differently,

[00:53:12.07]
and it may be no coincidence
the steps they've taken

[00:53:15.09]
to reduce plastic pollution
are making a big difference.

[00:53:20.02]
In stores and restaurants
throughout the country,

[00:53:23.01]
there's a noticeable absence

[00:53:24.07]
of disposable plastic
grocery bags and packaging.

[00:53:28.05]
Servingware and utensils
are either reusable

[00:53:32.00]
or made of materials easily recycled.

[00:53:35.06]
How did this come about?

[00:53:38.03]
The French Parliament has
banned many single-use items.

[00:53:43.00]
And how is it they've
been able to do this?

[00:53:45.02]
- France prides itself to be
the country of enlightenment,

[00:53:48.02]
the country of the French Revolution,

[00:53:50.00]
and until today the attachment
of the French people

[00:53:52.08]
to democracy remains very strong.

[00:53:56.03]
- [Peter] A French citizen and professor

[00:53:58.02]
at Harvard Business School,

[00:53:59.09]
Vincent Pons co-authored a broad study

[00:54:03.00]
to examine the French electoral system.

[00:54:05.07]
- All candidates, provided they get more

[00:54:08.06]
than 5% of the votes, will receive funding

[00:54:11.01]
and reimbursement from the
state for their campaign.

[00:54:13.02]
As a result of that,
they don't necessarily need

[00:54:15.01]
to look elsewhere for money.

[00:54:17.04]
What prompted this was the
observation that there was

[00:54:20.07]
more and more money that
was entering in politics,

[00:54:23.05]
and there were a number of scandals.

[00:54:26.08]
- [Peter] So rather than turn
to deep-pocket industries

[00:54:29.05]
for campaign money and the
obligation that creates,

[00:54:33.01]
candidates in France who
get more than 5% of the vote

[00:54:36.06]
can simply get a bank loan,
knowing they can repay it

[00:54:39.08]
after getting reimbursed
by the government.

[00:54:43.02]
And the amount of money they need to raise

[00:54:45.04]
is much different than in the US,

[00:54:47.07]
where the main need is for television ads.

[00:54:51.00]
- In France, candidates
cannot pay for TV ads

[00:54:54.06]
or for radio ads.

[00:54:55.08]
TV and radio channels have
to provide equal coverage

[00:54:58.04]
to all the candidates.

[00:55:01.03]
- [Peter] Another reform that's changed

[00:55:03.01]
who's getting elected to their parliament

[00:55:05.03]
involves strict laws around
campaign contributions.

[00:55:09.01]
- Donors cannot spend more than €4,600,

[00:55:12.05]
and these are just private donors.

[00:55:14.06]
Companies cannot donate
any euro to a campaign.

[00:55:20.07]
- [Peter] Laws like these

[00:55:21.09]
that make campaign money from industries,

[00:55:24.06]
like those involved with
plastic, far less important,

[00:55:28.01]
have long been held back
in America by lobbyists

[00:55:31.02]
and industries that are so
used to influencing policy.

[00:55:36.00]
It's a reality that many believe
will not change in the US

[00:55:39.08]
until, perhaps as in France,
enough citizens demand it.

[00:55:45.00]
- Anyone who's a US citizen
could cut me a check

[00:55:48.03]
for a billion dollars, and
it's okay in Pennsylvania.

[00:55:51.09]
- If we can't change the
legislation that says

[00:55:55.01]
that these large corporations

[00:55:57.05]
can put this big influx of
money into these campaigns,

[00:56:01.09]
if we can never change that

[00:56:03.01]
it's gonna be tough.

[00:56:04.03]
- There's legislation to do that.

[00:56:06.06]
We need the political
will to make that happen.

[00:56:09.06]
[legislators singing in French]

[00:56:11.07]
- [Peter] The success France has had

[00:56:13.02]
with greatly reducing
the flow of plastic waste

[00:56:16.02]
suggests that independent
leadership may be better able

[00:56:19.08]
to take on some big problems
and spawn innovation,

[00:56:23.08]
the kind of innovation

[00:56:25.03]
that ironically also brought
about the advent of plastic.

[00:56:30.02]
[mellow instrumental music]

[00:56:33.04]
♪ That's the story of plastic's tale ♪

[00:56:35.07]
♪ A boon to us all and an epic fail ♪

[00:56:38.09]
♪ How it gets made,
spilling into the breeze ♪

[00:56:41.06]
♪ Into our water, into the seas ♪

[00:56:44.09]
♪ People are tryin', doing their best ♪

[00:56:47.06]
♪ To recycle, reuse
and clean up the mess ♪

[00:56:50.04]
♪ But it just keeps
coming all over the map ♪

[00:56:53.04]
♪ Could somebody please turn off the tap ♪

[00:56:56.06]
♪ And why don't our
leaders pass some laws ♪

[00:57:05.07]
♪ To cut down on the wrappers ♪

[00:57:07.00]
♪ And the bottles and the straws? ♪

[00:57:08.08]
♪ Why is it such an impossible trick ♪

[00:57:11.03]
♪ Getting rid of the stuff
that's making a sick? ♪

[00:57:14.07]
♪ 'Cause getting elected in the US of A ♪

[00:57:17.03]
♪ Means raising big cash you gotta repay ♪

[00:57:20.07]
♪ Is this the way that it has to be ♪

[00:57:23.06]
♪ Is there something we
can do to set us free ♪

[00:57:26.07]
♪ Across the pond they've found a way ♪

[00:57:29.07]
♪ Of limiting the money
politicians gotta raise ♪

[00:57:32.04]
♪ So once into office
they're not obliged ♪

[00:57:41.07]
♪ To pay back favors for money supplied ♪

[00:57:44.05]
♪ To pay back favors for money supplied ♪

[00:57:52.09]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:57:57.00]