“I don’t like going outside. I don’t like when it rains, because in my brain it’s like, what’s in that rain? Sometimes the rain smells. And of course, the closer you get to the cracker plant, the stronger the smell is.”

— Rachel Eshom, Beaver County resident

When it comes to threats to our planet and its inhabitants, few are more ubiquitous than plastics. From our clothes, to food packaging, to the gadgets we use daily — our lives are full of the stuff.

In recent years, we’ve learned more about the toll of plastic pollution on our environment and our bodies. But plastic’s harms stretch way back to the start of its long manufacturing process. And since the main ingredient in plastic comes from fracked gas, it’s also a major — and growing — contributor to climate change. 

This Earth Day, we’re exposing the grave threat that plastics manufacturing poses to people and the planet.

A PA Plastics Plant Pumps Pollution Into Nearby Communities

Rachel Eshom works as a nurse in the City of Pittsburgh and is studying for her Master’s degree in nursing. She and her family live in Center Township, just two miles away from Shell Polymers Monaca, a new cracker plant. There, Shell “cracks” ethane, derived from fracked gas, and turns it into plastic pellets to be shaped into new products. 

Since Rachel moved to Center Township in 2015, the same year Shell began construction, she has seen firsthand how the plant has changed the region. Since it began operating in 2022, things have only gotten worse.

Shell Polymers Monaca is permitted to be Pennsylvania’s second-largest polluter of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs harm our respiratory systems and organs and contribute to dangerous ozone pollution. Some are known to cause cancer.

On top of that, Shell has had dozens of malfunctions and nearly blew through its yearly VOC limit in a single month. It has shot columns of fire and pollutants into the sky for hours on end. And, in April 2023, it reported a huge spill of the carcinogen benzene. 

Recently, Rachel sat down with us to detail her experience since Shell came to town. Her story exposes the hidden costs of plastic production; how it pollutes our drinking water, hurts our communities, and makes us sick. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

“The Air Quality Around Here’s Terrible.”

Since Shell began construction, how has the new plant and its pollution affected your everyday life?

The air quality around here’s terrible. And when I’m coming off of Route 376 at night, aside from the eyesore of the cracker plant — which fine, whatever, I can deal with that — there is a smell. Sometimes it burns your eyes. And to be honest, I’m thankful that we switched daycares because we used to have to drive past the cracker plant frequently. That was just gross.

I don’t like going outside. I don’t like when it rains, because in my brain, it’s like, What’s in that rain? Sometimes the rain smells. And of course, the closer you get to the cracker plant, the stronger the smell is.

Before everything kicked off, the water out here had always been heavily chlorinated. You could smell it. Then when the cracker plant kicked off, because I’m in a direct line two miles away on the main street, my water started turning yellow, orange, sometimes brown. There were rocks coming through. I would work until midnight and come home and have to take a cold shower because it would take that long for the water to run clear. 

That wasn’t normal, and I knew this was directly related to the cracker plant because it was not an issue before. I went round and round with the Center Township Water Authority, and of course they’re denying it. 

Now I’m spending thousands of dollars to install filters and get my pipes redone, and the water will hopefully be clear. But the person who’s doing this said, “No, we need to reach out to the water authority. I guarantee the pipes coming to your house, the infrastructure, it’s all screwed up.”

That cracker plant came through with all these chemicals that they don’t test for, and it’s all eating the pipe. Because why did it go from one extreme to the other?

“Now I Won’t Go to the Farmers’ Market Out Here.”

What have you heard from other members of the community and classmates about the cracker plant and how it’s affecting them?

I go to school in Steubenville, Ohio. The Beaver River runs up through Steubenville, and then Weirton, West Virginia. So there was a lot of discussion about the plant with classmates because it affects them. However dirty the water is here, it’s even dirtier when it reaches them.

Last semester, we did community nursing projects, and mine started on the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, and how that affected the people there. Then I turned to focus on the cracker plant, and I went down the rabbit hole and got really into it. I started trying to contact representatives, and nobody commented on anything with the cracker plant.

I had a nurse practitioner that I saw for routine care, and she said that she had a patient in Carnegie. This woman was in her thirties; had kids. She was very tired, very listless, all that sort of thing. She came in because she just wasn’t feeling right, and everybody was saying to her, “Oh, well, you just have kids. That’s tiring.” 

And this nurse practitioner said, “You know what? I’m going to run a heavy metals panel on you.” The reason why she did this is the woman said she was growing her own crops. And when it came back, it was arsenic and lead off the charts. So I won’t plant crops, and now I won’t go to the farmers’ market out here. 

There is an Allegheny Health Network cancer institute that was built maybe two years after the Shell plant was up and running, and you can stand in the parking lot and see the plant directly behind it. It’s like they were already preparing. And my husband has already had cancer from prior exposure to things — this is just adding to it. 

“It Affects Everything Downstream.”

Western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh have been hotspots for fracking and industry for decades. Can you talk a bit more about the legacy of pollution in the area and how these compound over time?

Everywhere in Pittsburgh’s polluted, and the closer you are to the action, the worse it is. Now, it seems like it’s getting even worse. In Beaver, they’re going to be building a steel plant. Then we have the nuclear plant across the river and the Phoenix Glass [now Anchor Hocking] plant.

I mean, rivers themselves, you put factories on rivers because it helps the factories to cool down. And we have the three rivers, and they’re disgusting. The Monongahela and the Allegheny meet to form the Ohio River, which then goes up and scoops around and forms the Mississippi River.

So I can’t imagine how filthy the Mississippi River is from the get-go. Then, when you have all of these factories, it affects everything downstream. It’s all going down the United States, plus whatever they have on the Mississippi River, the factories, and so on and so forth … All that stuff, it just travels. It runs through the water, through the soil. Wind blows, too; things come in all different directions.

“Before, It Was Nice; It Was a Nice Little Town”

How have you seen the local government respond to the plant?

When the cracker plant was first opening, the local government was all for it: “This is gonna be great. This is gonna bring in jobs.” I thought about boomtowns, you know, with the oil industry — but that never turns out well. This Shell plant wasn’t for local jobs; this did not support the local community at all. These people are from out of state that are working there. 

Now, I just feel like I live in a really depressed area. Before, it was nice; it was a nice little town. And then the cracker plant started, and then you had all these people come in to work. They had nine hotels erected; there was trafficking; there were drugs. 

About three years ago, the local government just fell silent. I couldn’t find newspaper articles about new things, or how they felt, or anything like that. They’re washing their hands of it. 

[Editor’s note: A 2023 report from the Ohio River Valley Institute counters Shell’s claims that the plant would bring local economic benefits. The report found that since Shell announced its plans, Beaver’s GDP and population, as well as the number of jobs and businesses in the county, have fallen. Meanwhile, state and national numbers have risen.]

“It’s Cheaper for Shell to Pay the Fines Than It Is to Fix the Problem.”

Last year, after years of community watchdogging, Shell agreed to pay a $10 million fine for air quality violations. What was your reaction to that?

Well, I was happy to see that they were being held accountable, and I was happy that they were on the news. Then I thought about it, and I was like, well, this is probably because the East Palestine train derailment happened. That’s 20 miles away from here. Right now, it’s the shiny thing. 

I appreciated that they were being held accountable, but it’s cheaper for Shell to pay the fines than it is to fix the problem, so that’s what they’re going to do. And I feel like it’s definitely not enough money to cover everything that needs to be covered because of all the pollution.

What I would like to see is completely not going to happen, but I would love to see the plant just shut down entirely. Why can’t there be glass products and not plastic products? Because plastic is cheaper and more people are invested in it.

“You Need to Have a Voice.”

Two years ago, you connected with Food & Water Watch and Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community’s Eyes on Shell campaign to learn more. What has that been like? 

It feels good to have people standing up for something. And in this case, in particular, I feel like it really helps out the local community. It’s nice to have a community with Eyes on Shell, with people who do care and do dig deep and find things out, because you need to have a voice. When you don’t have a voice, you crumble.

It sucks to hear from the water company, “Oh, you know, this is just some crazy person going off about the water.” So it’s validating that you’re not by yourself; that there are other people who are standing here with you, who are going to be wild and are going to fight and keep going with it. And for any cause, that’s what’s needed.

Together, We Can Stop Plastics From Wreaking Havoc on Communities Like Rachel’s

Right now, the plastic industry is growing. At the rate we’re going, experts expect plastic production and consumption to triple by 2060. And the main driver? Fossil fuel greed. 

Big Oil and Gas knows that time is running out on dirty energy, so it’s coming up with new strategies to sell its products, which includes boosting the plastic and petrochemical industry. 

The Shell plant in Beaver County is part of that strategy, aided by support from elected officials. The Pennsylvania state legislature signed off a $1.65 billion subsidy for Shell to encourage the company to build in Pennsylvania, on top of other state and local benefits. But while taxpayers pad Shell’s profits, they’re also paying with their health.

At the same time, government leaders have failed to hold Shell accountable for its pollution. So grassroots groups like our Food & Water PA team have been working to expose Shell’s harms and drive our officials to act. As Rachel’s story highlights, grassroots activism is essential in the fight for community health. Building awareness and people power are key to holding our government and corporations accountable.

Unless we come together to build power on the ground, corporations nationwide will continue to sacrifice our health and our planet for profit. Together, we can educate and support our communities, pressure our leaders to act, and build a livable future.