Petroleum products are made from fossil fuels and can cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm. They include gasoline, diesel fuel, and lubricants (for automobiles, airplanes, trains, snowmobiles, cooking stoves, generators, and furnaces), and are used to make chemicals, plastics, and synthetic materials. Petrochemicals are chemicals made from petroleum products during refining processes. They include thousands of substances in products we use in our everyday lives. Exposure to toxic chemicals can happen from refining or around oil and natural gas fields, chemical plants, and natural gas power plants. They are also found in and around transport and storage operations, such as pipelines, marine terminals, tank trucks, and other facilities and equipment.
Petrochemicals were developed by Union Carbide in West Virginia, where byproducts of the first oil wells were cooked to develop products that could be marketed for profit. West Virginia’s Kanawha River Valley has one of the highest concentrations of chemical facilities in the country, earning it the nickname, “Chemical Valley.”
Read more about the birth of petrochemicals in the article UpRiver: A Researcher Traces the Legacy of Plastics.
Where petrochemicals, petroleum products, or oil and gas production are concentrated, the risk of health problems increases. One illustration of this can be seen in the oil and gas threat map.
One of the most infamous petrochemicals, Teflon or C8, resulted in the widespread contamination of Parkersburg, WV, and the Little Hocking River Region of Ohio. Teflon is one of the first forever chemicals produced; it is toxic at extremely low levels and can impact your health. Virtually everyone has been exposed to forever chemicals through our tap water, food, food packaging, clothing or contaminated soil, even in utero.
The People Over Petro Coalition member organizations work daily to protect their families and communities from petrochemical pollution and health threats. Learn more about petrochemical production in the Ohio River Valley from this report by Earthworks and FracTracker Alliance.