In September 2024, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) teamed up with award-winning conservation photographer Garth Lenz on a photography expedition to document the petrochemical industry and oil refineries along the Gulf Coast.
Lenz has photographed environmental problems and indigenous peoples around the world, including in Canada, the U.S., China, Chile, Borneo, and Ecuador, and had his work featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Nature Conservancy Magazine and many other publications.
Working with volunteer pilots with SouthWings, a nonprofit organization, Lenz spent a week flying over oil refineries and chemical manufacturing plants all along the Gulf Coast, from Corpus Christi, Texas, to New Orleans, Louisiana.
Lenz then worked with EIP’s Director of Communications, Tom Pelton, a veteran journalist, to interview and photograph people living in the shadow of the petrochemical industry – including along the Houston Ship Channel and in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” along the Mississippi River.
The following slide show gives a sense of the immense size of these facilities and the environmentalimpact of the petrochemical industry, which is growing rapidly because of cheap oil and gas produced by hydraulic fracturing. And these photos also illustrate the human impact of the air and water pollution from the industry, including on neighbors of the plants who suffer from asthma, cancer, chemical odors, loud noises, and a diminished quality of life, sometimes dying prematurely.
EIP works to help people living in the shadow of chemical plants and oil refineries. We provide free legal and scientific assistance to community groups fighting violations by big polluters and expansions that will mean more air and water pollution. We file lawsuits against EPA and state environmental agencies when they fail to protect public health. And we conduct investigations and release data-driven reports that document the harms caused by the industry and drive real change and a healthier world.
