Louisiana
From Louisiana to Pennsylvania, Tracing Plastics Pollution Back to Its Source – Inside Climate News
While filming a documentary about oceans on a boat in the Pacific Ocean several years ago, producer and director Steve Cowan encountered a shocking scene. “We were surrounded from horizon to horizon by floating plastic,” Cowan said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Cowan and his colleagues at the nonprofit Habitat Media wondered where all of this plastic was coming from—and why so much of it is manufactured in the United States. With “Single-Use Planet,” their new documentary premiering on PBS in April, they hope to answer those questions.
The documentary tells the stories of two states with a major stake in the plastics economy: Louisiana and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania segment focuses on Beaver County’s Shell ethane cracker plant, a massive facility for manufacturing plastics that began operations in the fall of 2022.
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Since then, residents living nearby have complained about noise, odors and light pollution, and local activists are concerned that Shell is exacerbating the region’s existing plastic pollution problems.
In a previous statement to Inside Climate News, a Shell spokesperson said the company was “committed to the health and well-being of its employees and the surrounding community,” and said the company was working to improve so that it “can be the good environmental steward, neighbor, and business partner this region wants and deserves.” Though Shell was lured to Pennsylvania with more than $1.6 billion in tax subsidies, new research shows that the promised economic boom has failed to materialize.
“There are stories of explorers trying to find the headwaters of the Amazon River, and it takes them to the Andes, to these tributaries way up in the steep slopes of those mountains,” Cowan said. “I liken that to what we’ve done with this story. We took it all the way to the headwaters of plastic to answer, where does this stuff come from?”
Inside Climate News spoke with Cowan about the origins of the project and what he and his team learned about the Shell plant. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
KILEY BENSE: How did you decide to focus on Pennsylvania and Louisiana for this film?
STEVE COWAN: Trying to figure out where all this plastic was coming from, our first stop was the petrochemical facilities, these giant ethane crackers that produce plastic from natural gas and fossil fuels. We talked to people that live nearby in these communities, and a lot of the people aren’t too happy with it.
In Louisiana, the [companies] site these facilities in areas with marginalized communities, where they don’t expect there’s going to be a lot of complaints and pushback. That was our Louisiana story, and then we went further upstream, because the Mississippi River eventually becomes the Ohio River through Appalachia. We checked out the … Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, and we talked with community members there, many of whom wish that that plant never arrived.
To feed the plant, they need ethane. It’s an ethane cracker, and that’s natural gas. There’s a lot of fracking that goes on in Pennsylvania and Ohio and West Virginia, and some people aren’t so happy with that either.
BENSE: I think a lot of people don’t realize that plastics manufacturing is fed by fracking wells.
COWAN: We made that connection, and we asked this community, well, how did Shell end up here? If half the people are horrified by it, how did it happen? And they all said, “It was a $1.6 billion subsidy provided by our legislators in our state capital in Harrisburg. They’re the ones that invited … Shell. They’re the ones that championed and enabled the whole thing.” So we went further upstream to Harrisburg and met some of these lawmakers.
In Harrisburg, talking with these legislators, the biggest part of their funding is coming from fossil fuel, natural gas and petrochemical companies, and so they need that money. We tried in the film not to villainize these lawmakers, in part because it takes so much money to get elected, and average citizens don’t have the kind of cash they need to buy all the TV ads and everything they have to do to win a seat in the House or the Senate or the governor’s mansion.
So they have their go-to sources [of funding]. They don’t even have to go ask for it. The lobbyists are coming in and offering it, and it’s just this low-hanging fruit. Whether it be a subsidy bill or whether it be some kind of law to ease regulations and oversight of the industries, the lobbyists draft the legislation, they take it to the lawmakers and the lawmakers make policy out of them. These are the true headwaters of plastic.
We did meet some lawmakers in Harrisburg that are in the film, like Sen. Katie Muth or Chris Rabb from Philadelphia in the House, and they’re actually more in touch with the realities that a lot of their constituents have to face. They’re in the minority, though. That’s the problem. They vote against this, or they try to get some legislation going to bring in renewables, and they can’t even get the bills out on the floor. They’re powerless because they’re in the minority.
And the reason they stay in the minority is because this river of money is going to legislators who sign on with fossil fuels and plastic. It’s a worrisome thing, and I don’t see how, especially since the last election, it’s going to end any time soon.
BENSE: What do you hope viewers will take away from “Single-Use Planet”?
COWAN: Change isn’t going to come from the top down. These people that have figured out how to stay in power, they’re not going to sponsor legislation to lessen the impact of industry or to change our electoral system. Change has to come from the bottom up.
And that’s actually how it happened in France–they have general strikes. They shut the whole economy down. And it’s forced a lot of reforms in France, and I don’t know if that’s what’s coming to the U.S. or not, but I hope that people realize that they need to get more involved. People need to engage these issues, rather than just going about their daily lives and hoping somehow that their elected representatives in Harrisburg or Baton Rouge or Washington, D.C., are going to do anything about this. They’re not.
About This Story
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Thank you,
Kiley Bense
Reporter, Pennsylvania
Kiley Bense covers climate change and the environment with a focus on Pennsylvania, politics, energy, and public health. She has reported on the effects of the fracking boom in Pennsylvania, the expansion of the American plastics industry, and the intersection of climate change and culture. Her previous work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, the Believer, and Sierra Magazine, and she holds master’s degrees in journalism and creative writing from Columbia University. She is based in Pennsylvania.
The Louisiana Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 2 drawing
3-9-9
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 2 drawing
4-1-1-0
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 2 drawing
0-5-2-9-5
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Louisiana Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Louisiana Lottery offices. Prizes of over $5,000 must be claimed at Lottery office.
By mail, follow these instructions:
- Sign and complete the information on the back of your winning ticket, ensuring all barcodes are clearly visible (remove all scratch-off material from scratch-off tickets).
- Photocopy the front and back of the ticket (except for Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, as photocopies are not accepted for these games).
- Complete the Louisiana Lottery Prize Claim Form, including your telephone number and mailing address for prize check processing.
- Photocopy your valid driver’s license or current picture identification.
Mail all of the above in a single envelope to:
Louisiana Lottery Headquarters
555 Laurel Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
To submit in person, visit Louisiana Lottery headquarters:
555 Laurel Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, (225) 297-2000.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.
Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Louisiana Lottery.
When are the Louisiana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 5: Daily at 9:59 p.m. CT.
- Easy 5: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
- Lotto: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Louisiana editor. You can send feedback using this form.
NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana National Guard announced Monday that 120 troops will remain deployed in New Orleans through August.
The six-month extension comes after 350 Guard members deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year’s and other high-profile events like the Sugar Bowl. The troops, which had mainly clustered in the city’s historic French Quarter, had been scheduled to depart in the aftermath of Mardi Gras.
New Orleans is one of several Democrat-run cities, such as Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, where the federal government deployed armed troops under the administration of President Donald Trump. Hundreds of federal agents also converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate immigration crackdown in and around New Orleans.
During his State of the Union address last week, Trump touted the deployment in New Orleans as a “big success.” In January, Trump credited the troops with reducing the city’s violent crime within a week of their deployment. City police data shows violent crime rates have significantly declined over the past three years in parallel with national trends.
According to a press statement from the Louisiana National Guard, the remaining guard members will serve as a “visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.”
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said that the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. She pointed out that National Guard troops had assisted the city during last year’s Mardi Gras in the aftermath of a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day.
“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement.
While Moreno did not address which events she referred to, visitors flock to New Orleans in the spring for events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, requested the deployment of the National Guard last September, citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans despite the data showing crime was down.
“This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana,” Landry wrote on the social platform X on Monday, noting Louisiana had also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last year.
Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry, said the federal government would cover the cost of the extended deployment. She did not respond to a question about whether Guard members would be deployed outside New Orleans.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said in a statement the troops had already worked closely with other city, state and federal agencies to improve public safety during a stretch of high-profile events in the city, including the flood of visitors over Mardi Gras and the city’s carnival season.
“We remain committed to those partnerships as we continue supporting efforts to keep the City of New Orleans safe for residents and visitors,” Friloux said.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Jury selection begins Monday in what prosecutors describe as one of the largest auto insurance fraud cases in Louisiana history, with two local attorneys set to stand trial on charges that include fraud and obstruction of justice.
Attorneys Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are accused in an alleged scheme in which drivers — referred to as “slammers” — were paid to intentionally crash into 18-wheelers, file injury lawsuits and allow attorneys to collect the settlements. Both have pleaded not guilty.
63 people have been charged in the case. Many have already pleaded guilty. Motta and Giles are being tried together.
Criminal defense attorney Craig Mordock, who is not directly involved in the case but has been following it closely, said the scope of the litigation is significant.
“You have 10 years of personal injury cases and almost… almost a billion dollars in recovery. That’s all at issue,” Mordock said. “So yeah, this could go two to three weeks.”
Motta’s defense team has advanced a narrative that she was manipulated by a co-defendant.
“There is a compelling narrative that’s been advanced by Vanessa Motta’s lawyer in terms of her being manipulated by one of the co-defendants… about being manipulated by him and him having a prior federal conviction for fraud,” Mordock said.
Motta’s team originally claimed she did not know the crashes were staged. In 2024, her team told FOX 8 she is the victim.
Mordock said Giles faces a more difficult defense.
“I don’t see a favorable juror for one of the other lawyer defendants, Jason Giles. There’s not a clear theory of innocence. This is basically a standard white-collar prosecution where knowledge and intent are going to be the issue,” Mordock said.
The case carries what Mordock described as a shadow. In September 2020, key witness Cornelious Garrison was killed in New Orleans four days after his name appeared in an indictment. Garrison’s admitted killer, Ryan Harris, is expected to testify.
The judge in the case is also allowing the slain witness’s recorded descriptions of the alleged scheme to be admitted at trial.
Mordock said Louisiana drivers have a direct stake in the outcome.
“As your average Louisianan, the idea would be you would save… because the people committing this fraud have been wrapped up. The insurance companies are going to know how to look for this,” Mordock said.
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