What happens when a major petrochemical manufacturing plant becomes the heart of a community’s strategy for social and economic development? What remains after the sales pitches promising jobs and prosperity fade into the reality of living amidst a massive chemical production plant?
What can Beaver County residents concerned about their community’s future learn from those who have lived through such changes? Iris Carter and Ann Rolfes have spent their lives close to petrochemical facilities in Louisiana (Norco and Lafayette).
These two educators have valuable insights to share about how local citizens can address the social and health impacts of such facilities. Framing their stories and advice will be a screening of the PBS POV video Fenceline: A Company Town Divided.
Speakers from Beaver County communities will also share their own questions and concerns.
A Petrochemical Plant for our Neighbor?
The Rest of the Story.
Featuring Iris Carter, Ann Rolfes, and the PBS POV Movie, “Fenceline: A Company Town Divided”
6:00 - 8:30 pm at the Beaver Station Cultural & Event Center, 250 East End Avenue, Beaver, PA 15009 (At the corner of Third Street and East End Avenue). Click here for directions. Free and open to the public. Presented By the Cracker Plant Initiative, Create Lab, Clean Air Council, Clean Water Action, BCMAC, and ACCAN
Contact for More Information: beavercountycpi@gmail.com
Come hear. Come watch. Come share. Come learn answers to the vital question: “What can I do?"
About the Featured Speakers:
Iris Carter was born and raised in the neighborhood of Diamond in Norco, Louisiana next to a Shell cracker plant. After losing family members to illnesses related to chemical exposure, Iris stepped up in the fight for environmental justice, becoming a leading spokesperson and negotiator for The Concerned Citizens of Norco. Iris has traveled around the country and the world making presentations, attending shareholder meetings and encouraging other communities in their environmental justice campaigns. Iris is a teacher by profession.
Anne Rolfes founded the Louisiana Bucket Brigade in 2000 to empower communities to stop pollution in her home state. The Bucket Brigade has created cutting edge tools, including the iWitness Pollution Map, the Refinery Accident Database, and street-based artistic performances. Anne was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, where many people made their fortunes from the oil industry. She has seen the wealth and the poverty created by oil production and seeks to make the industry more equitable. She has a Masters in International Development from Tulane; she has twice testified before Congress. Her work has been recognized by local and national awards, including the Jane Bagley Lehman Award for Public Advocacy and the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leader Award.
About Louisiana Bucket Brigade:
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade uses grassroots action to create an informed, healthy society with a culture that holds the petrochemical industry and government accountable for the true costs of pollution.
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