This report shows the harms being suffered by local communities from pollution being emitted by the hundreds of fossil fuel and petrochemical plants sited along the Houston Ship Channel in Texas. The report documents the health and human rights consequences of repeated and regular exposure of residents to toxic pollutants emitted by the facilities, and the severe lack of regulatory oversight or enforcement to prevent the industry from continuing to harm people, the environment and climate. It determines this highly polluted area is a “sacrifice zone”, where harms are borne disproportionately by marginalized communities. Fenceline communities living alongside this polluting industry are disproportionately Latinx/Hispanic and Black, a manifestation of environmental racism. Responses from the US government and companies named in the report can be found in the annex.
