Additional Resources

Databases

• For more data on climate change, environmental justice, or industrial facilities in your area, check out the EPA’s catalog of databases.

• To see if a facility in your area is acting within its enforcement and compliance parameters, check out the EPA’s Facility Search.

Studies, Reports, and One-Pagers

• For a quick breakdown of how plastic impacts the climate, check out CIEL's two-pager, The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet: Climate.

• For a quick breakdown of how plastic impacts health, check out CIEL's two-pager The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet: Health.

• For a report detailing the risks that the petrochemicals and plastics industry poses to human health, human rights, local ecosystems, and the global climate, through a case study of one plastic and petrochemical producer, check out Formosa Plastics Group: A Serial Offender of Environmental and Human Rights.

• For information about how petrochemical expansion in the Gulf Coast is contributing to the climate crisis in the Permian Basin, check out the Permian Climate Bomb site.

• For more reports and studies on air quality, check out the Breathe Project.

• For more research on oil, gas, and petrochemicals, check out the Environmental Integrity Project’s reports.

• For information on the financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks associated with plastics and petrochemicals, check out As You Sow’s report, Plastics: The Last Straw for Big Oil?

• For a visual breakdown of the petrochemical industry, check out this one-pager from Break Free From Plastics.

• For details on various petrochemical products, check out this flowchart by Petrochemicals Europe. (Disclaimer: This industry-published document vaunts or advertises different uses of petrochemicals.)

• For information about petrochemicals as the oil industry's lifeline, check out this explainer by Earthjustice.

• For a community-led storytelling and mapping experience illustrating the harms caused along the entire life cycle of petrochemicals and plastics, check out Break Free From Plastics’ Toxic Tours.

• For more information on compressor stations, which have grown in abundance in size in the last 20 years, read this report by FracTracker.

Toolkits

• Plastic-Focused

  • • For targeted toolkits, research, and resources on plastics, check out Break Free From Plastics’ library and infographics on plastic production.

    • For targeted toolkits on plastic pollution issues like bag bans or marine litter, check out the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s resource page.

• State-Specific

  • • Louisiana: Toolkits from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and Tulane Environmental Law Clinic aim to help residents and community leaders across the state gain a clearer understanding of environmental issues, how they are regulated, and the steps that residents can take to protect themselves and their communities.

    • Ohio: The Ohio Environmental Council has a toolkit with a variety of resources and guides for building support for your cause and using your voice to make a difference.

    • Pennsylvania: The Environmental Integrity Project has a citizens’ toolkit that provides descriptions of key portions of the public notification and participation requirements, as well as fact sheets and example templates, so that citizens and decision makers can better prepare themselves to participate in the industrial development process.

• Environmental Activism

  • • For information about being an activist in your community and the basic tools for running a strong campaign, check out the Public Interest Research Group’s Activist Toolkit.

    • For information on identifying harmful oil chemicals and banning toxic oil dispersants, check out the Alert Project.

    • For information on campaigning and community organizing, check out the Sierra Club’s Movement Organizing Manual.

    • For information on potential interactions with federal agents and how to document them, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) created If an Agent Knocks to provide advice to activists likely to be targeted by FBI or other federal agents who have a long history of targeting radical and progressive movements.

    • To find organizing tools for creative activism, check out the Beautiful Trouble Toolbox.

• Other

  • For information on liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and the role they play as a piece of petrochemical infrastructure, check out the Environmental Integrity Project’s guide for challenging LNG projects.

  • For resources and information on identifying different pipelines; how pipelines are regulated, constructed, and operated; and what to do in an emergency, check out the Pipeline Safety Trust.

  • For an overview of the legal authorities available to the EPA for addressing and identifying the disproportionate impact of pollution on historically overburdened communities, including Indigenous People, communities of color, and low-income communities, check out the EPA's Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice.

Funding

• CIEL Petchem Frontline Fund: CIEL offers rapid-response funds to support groups and organizations fighting the petrochemical buildout and infrastructure in the US. The fund provides small-dollar infusions of monetary support, typically up to $10,000, to enable frontline groups to act quickly on low-cost, time-sensitive, and strategic opportunities. Grantees can use funds for materials, labor, research, or other support for direct actions; expert witnesses or other narrow legal support; community support during or after spills or climate change-driven weather emergencies; community science or monitoring efforts; among other things. Funds cannot be used for electioneering of any kind, for or against any candidate or holder of public office. Funds have already been utilized by community members in the Gulf South with Hurricane Laura recovery, as well as community push-back against petrochemical projects such as Formosa Plastics in Louisiana and the Appalachian petrochemical hub. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, email frontlinefund@ciel.org.

• Permian Gulf Coast (PGC) Coalition Grassroots Grants Fund: The PGC Coalition offers grants of up to $8,000 to support frontline and grassroots efforts to challenge the oil, gas, and petrochemical buildout from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast. The intention of these funds is to support grassroots strategies such as organizing, actions, research, and communications. These funds cannot be used for political/electoral efforts. For more information about the application, contact the PGC Funding Committee at ebuckner@earthworksaction.org.

• The Mountain Watershed Association’s Direct Support Fund: The Mountain Watershed Association provides small grants to grassroots groups and advocates in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia working toward social change on environmental justice, shale gas, and petrochemical issues.

• The Story of Stuff Grassroots Grants Program: The Story of Stuff Project offers support to small organizations and groups in the US organizing against water privatization and plastic pollution. The program makes grants of up to $5,000 to fund projects that value local community involvement and organizing, creative interventions, strategic thinking, and both defensive “fight-back” and offensive solutions-focused projects. Guidelines and application questions are available online.

Header photo credit: Mark Dixon, People Over Petro