Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is launching an $85 million campaign to prevent new petrochemical plants and to lower pollution from some that already exist.
Bloomberg's Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, which was first announced on Wednesday, aims to "turbocharge" local attempts to prevent the building of new petrochemical and plastics manufacturing plants and to lower pollution from plants in Texas, Louisiana, and the Ohio Valley, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
"Communities around the country are standing up to confront the petrochemical industry and defend their right to clean air and water," Bloomberg said in a statement. "This campaign will help ensure more local victories, support laws that protect communities from harm and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling the climate crisis."
The Beyond Petrochemicals campaign follows in the mode of the Beyond Coal campaign established by the Sierra Club, to which Bloomberg Philanthropies donated over $170 million. Bloomberg himself helped create the Beyond Carbon program that aims to close all coal plants in the U.S. by the ear 2030.
Joanne Kilgour, the executive director of the Ohio River Valley Institute, praised the initiative, telling the Post-Gazette that it "should signal to all regional policymakers that it is time to reject these financially unsound petrochemical-to-plastics schemes once and for all, and embrace new, diverse strategies for more resilient local economies and healthier communities."
However, Jeff Nobers, the executive director of the business and labor group Pittsburgh Works Together, hit out at the campaign.
He told the newspaper: "Perhaps Michael Bloomberg and the individual members of the coalition should immediately stop using natural gas, gasoline, aviation fuel, plastics and other materials derived from fossil fuels in their everyday life. Then their words might have more credibility."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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