PITTSBURGH — EHN Reporter Kristina Marusic joined NPR's "Living on Earth" to discuss proposed chemical recycling plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
Marusic recently reported on a proposed chemical recycling plant in Point Township, Pennsylvania, that was ultimately canceled. She has also reported on community opposition to similar plants in Ohio and West Virginia.
"Appalachia is already home to a really dense network of oil- and gas-related infrastructure," Marusic said during the interview. "So it's really convenient to put another piece of that network close by so that those resources can kind of overlap ... Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are three of 24 states that have recently passed legislation to reclassify chemical recycling facilities from waste processing facilities to manufacturing facilities. And that's a really important change, because it means that they're subjected to fewer regulations and less regulatory oversight."
The interview is available at Living on Earth, on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, and below.
- Listen: Why communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are fighting chemical recycling plants ›
- What is chemical recycling? ›
- Pennsylvania’s first proposed chemical recycling plant cancelled ›
- Residents fear Pennsylvania, West Virginia chemical recycling proposals will deepen fossil fuel ties and pollution problems ›
- Chemical recycling grows — along with concerns about its environmental impacts ›
- Paused Ohio chemical recycling plant puts spotlight on Appalachia as “prime target” for the controversial practice ›
