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Diane Wilson had heard rumors for months that Exxon might be coming to Point Comfort, Texas, which sits on the Gulf Coast south of Galveston. She recalls whispers about the global behemoth hiring local electricians and negotiating railroad access. Two days before Christmas, the first confirmation quietly arrived: an application for tax subsidies to build an $8.6 billion plastics manufacturing plant. Wilson found the news particularly alarming. She has spent years fighting to clean up pollution from another petrochemical plant and won a $50 million settlement against its owners, Formosa, in 2019. Exxon would build its proposed facility across from that factory and discharge waste into the same waterways Wilson has spent decades fighting to protect. We have been cleaning the piss out of [Cox Creek], and this is the very place where Exxon is going to try to put its plastics plant, Wilson, who lives in nearby Seadrift, said of the facilitys potential location. You see this nightmare of another plant, trying to do the very same thing. Exxons proposal calls for a steam cracker, a facility that uses oil and natural gas to make ethylene and propylenethe chemical building blocks of plastic. Factories like this produce and sell plastic pellets, called nurdles, to other manufacturers who turn them into intermediary or final goods, like bottles and packaging. Besides ethylene and propylene, steam crackers produce climate pollution and hazardous chemicals like ammonia, benzene, toluene, and methanol. It looks like a big facility, Alexandra Shaykevich, research manager for the Environmental Integrity Project, which tracks fossil fuel development, said of the plan Exxon has dubbed the Coastal Plain Project. But she said that because much of the application was redacted and the company hasnt made a public announcement, few details are available. Were going to be looking at this one closely. Beyond the Formosa plant, Point Comfort is home to a nitrile factory, a plastics facility, and a Superfund site. Several other industrial sites dot the coast around Galveston. Many of them sit alongside communities, and previous analyses have shown that steam crackers in particular are disproportionately sited near marginalized groups. According to an environmental justice mapping tool from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than half of Point Comfort residents are people of color, more than half have less than a high school diploma, and more than half of households speak limited English. They talk about a sacrifice zonethis is the real deal, said Wilson. Exxon filed for tax subsidies from the Calhoun County Independent School District under the states Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation, or JETI, Act, which uses tax incentives to lure businesses to the state. Lawmakers passed that law in 2023 to replace an earlier tax-break program that critics said undermined school finances and amounted to corporate welfare. The Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort, Texas. The operation has long released pollution into the air and a nearby creek, and some in town worry the factory Exxon may build there will do the same. [Photo: Mark Felix/AFP/Getty Images] Exxon wrote in its application that it plans to apply for more abatements from the county, groundwater conservation district, and port authority. In return, it argued, the facility would create 300 jobs during its first five years in operation. Construction would begin next year and, once its operating at full capacity in 2032, Exxon says the operation will raise the states economic output by $3.6 billion a year. These tax incentives have become one of the early battles in these facilities, said Robin Schneider, executive director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, an advocacy organization. She estimates that Exxon could get about $250 million in local tax breaks over a 10-year periodalmost $1 million per job. Why is this massively profitable business getting this money from taxpayers? she asked. Exxon brought in $33.7 billion last year, on record-high production, and distributed more money to shareholders than ever before. School district officials did not respond to requests for comment and, in an email, County Judge (the title given to county administrators in Texas) Vern Lyssy did not answer specific questions, only repeated the language used in Exxons statement. A county commissioner, Joel Behrens, expressed support for Exxon and the economic development it could bring, comparing the opportunity to his positive experiences with Formosa. If they were to pick this area to come to, theyd probably be just as good a neighbor as Formosa, he said. Theyve helped the county out when the county needed help. Exxon did not respond to questions about the pollution a new steam cracker might create. Company spokesperson Lauren Kight said the application for tax subsidies in Calhoun County does not mean Exxon has committed to building there. The company indicated in its JETI filing that its focus was on the U.S. Gulf Coast but that it is still considering other locations, including abroad. The Gulf Coast presents tremendous advantages, said Kight, but its very early in our evaluation process. The proposal comes at a time of booming growth for the plastics industry, and for the pollution that it inevitably creates. The world produces about 57 million metric tons of plastic pollution every year, according to a study published in September in the journal Nature. World leaders have spent the past two and a half years negotiating a United Nations treaty to end plastic pollution, and at least 69 countries say they want to do that by limiting how much is created in the first place. Plants like the one Exxon is planning are the absolute opposite direction we should be going, said Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency official and president of the nonprofit Beyond Plastics. She worries that this facility, like others, would spew pollution for dcades. Once these things are built, its hard to get them to stop operating. Setting aside the environmental argument, financial analysts say its imprudent to invest in more plastic production. All three credit rating agencies have issued warnings over expanding fossil fuel and plastics infrastructure, including one from Standard & Poors in 2021 that cited oversupply of petrochemicals, protests from local residents, and surging global pressure to reduce carbon emissions as well as chemical and plastic pollution worldwide. Abhishek Sinha, an energy finance analyst for the nonprofit Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said that while the Trump administration may be ushering in a period of lax regulation for polluting industries, the petrochemical sector is in structural declineas shown by the poor returns Shells chemicals division and Formosa Plastics recently reported. I think its going to be the same story thats being told again and again, Sinha said, referring to Exxons proposed steam cracker. This is not going to be a positive value-add project for them; its going to be detrimental to the equity holders in the long run. Kight did not directly address these concerns but said Exxon would continue to evaluate the market conditions before we make a decision. For Wilson, Exxons proposal feels like déj vu. More than three decades ago, the Taiwanese petrochemical conglomerate Formosa proposed its plant, just miles from the Gulf of Mexico, where Wilsons family had been shrimpers for generations. Her fight against the company started with hunger strikes to protest its permits and eventually became a lawsuit over the exact outcomes she had feared. Wilson and former plant workers joined environmental activists to collect tens of thousands of nurdles from Lavaca Bay and nearby waterways like Cox Creek, and alleged that Formosa had illegally dumped them along with other pollutants. Her $50 million settlement is the largest award in a citizen suit against an industrial polluter in the history of the federal Clean Water Act. The settlement funded dozens of projects, including cleaning up waterways, and provided $20 million for a fishing cooperative aimed at helping rebuild that battered industry. But Wilson worries another mega-factory coming to the area would undermine that work. Where Exxon is going to put their bloody plant is smack-dab in front of [what will be] one of the largest oyster farms in Texas, said Wilson, who is not convinced that any plastics factory can operate without polluting. She noted that Formosa has already violated its settlement agreement nearly 800 times, racking up over $25 million in fines. Exxon is going to be exactly like Formosa. Wilson considers the fact that Exxon could still decide not to build in Calhoun County an opportunity to resist, and plans to fight the company at every step of the process. A lot of people over the years have asked me what my one regret is, and I always say: I didnt try hard enough to stop Formosa, reflected Wilson. This time, she said, I will do everything I can, for as long as I live, to stop that plant from coming in. This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. 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We all know the people pleaser in the officethe one who takes on extra work, stays late without being asked, and is at the full disposal of the department manager. They also may agree with whatever the majority says and will dodge conflict, even though they are in the right. But does this mentality pay off? Likely not, say experts. Who exactly is a people pleaser? A people pleaser is someone who abandons their own needs and values to try and make someone else happy, explains Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. While on the surface, you may think this selfless approach will fast-track you at work, however, this mindset can hurt your job success. Heres how: Your ideas won’t be shared: Your rah-rah attitude, or fear of making waves could be a barrier, especially in brainstorming sessions. You may not disagree with anyone or offer different opinions due to fear you might upset someone, says Morin. Plus, this facade could prevent you from speaking your true opinions. You also might agree to things you don’t really believe in, because you fear your ideas might be frowned upon, she says. You won’t demonstrate leadership skills: If you want to advance in your career, its critical to showcase your ability to lead a team. It’s important to be able to say no, and if you can’t, you’re going to go along with bad ideas or you might get talked into doing things that are bad for the company, says Morin. You aren’t likely to be promoted if you look like a doormat. You won’t advocate for yourself: Being a people pleaser can cause you to be afraid to speak up when you need to at work. You won’t ask for a raise, speak up when you’re treated poorly, or ask for what you need, Morin says. If you don’t advocate for yourself, others are likely to surpass you. You dilute the quality of your work: Being a people pleaser can usurp both your time and energy. If you’re always saying ‘yes’ to helping other people, you’ll have less time and energy to devote to your tasks, cautions Morin. The quality of your work is likely to suffer because you’ll be spread too thin. You shield your authenticity: People also don’t get to know the real you when you don’t share your true thoughts or personality. A people pleaser might feel lonely because they don’t get to develop authentic relationships with people, says Morin. You take on others emotional baggage: You don’t have the power to make others feel happyand if you try, you might grow frustrated, says Morin. People pleasers often blame themselves for how other people feel, so you may assume you’re doing something wrong if your efforts aren’t making them happy, she says. You can hinder your own success: People pleasers shy away from difficult conversations about their progress or tend to avoid advocating for their own development, says Michelle Reisdorf, district president at Robert Half in Chicago. This can hinder their career growth and potential opportunities, she says. You dont set healthy boundaries: People-pleasing employees can get stuck with a heavier workload because they dont speak up more when work is unloaded onto them. If someone struggles with setting healthy boundaries, they may end up taking on more work than what is manageable or accepting demands that fall outside their typical responsibilities, says Reisdorf. How can a people pleaser pivot themselves to self-advocacy? It can take a plan and then practice for effective strategies to collaborate and cooperate without people-pleasing, but having the will is the best springboard to turn the page on being a doormat. It might involve finding ways to speak up and say what you need, while recognizing that no one has to give you what you’re asking for, says Morin. She notes it can take planning and practice to get better at collaborating without turning to people-pleasing. But it is possible to improve, says Morin. It might involve finding ways to speak up and say what you need, while recognizing that no one has to give you what you’re asking for. So, if youre uncomfortable speaking up for yourself, start small, advises Morin. Share one idea at every meeting you attend, she suggests. And, when you share ideas often, you’ll see that there will be times when people disagree or dismiss your ideas. The goal is to get more comfortable with that. As you ease into this plan, she acknowledges there will also be times when people really like your ideas and you may find it feels uncomfortable to be the center of attention or to receive praise, but this is part of your growing strategy. Exposing yourself to that feeling will also help you grow more comfortable with it. Another key component of breaking this pattern is to accept that you can’t make everyone happy and sometimes there will be conflict. Disagreements are part of any healthy relationship, and they often lead to better solutions and new strategies, she says. You may need to work on yourself to recognize that you’re still an okay person even if someone disagrees or is angry with you. If you always say yes, set out to say no or disagree at least one time per week, Morin recommends. You’ll see how others react and respond to you when you decline an invitation or express yourself. That can help you see that people aren’t likely to get as upset as you imagined or respond with anger,” Morin says. And if they do get upset, it’s just another opportunity to practice tolerating your discomfort and coping with those feelings. Additionally, setting boundaries can allow people pleasers to feel empowered. This path can lead to more confidence and self-advocacy. Once youve assessed your bandwidth, I recommend discussing it with your manager or a trusted mentor to develop a work plan that establishes clear boundaries and aligns with both your well-being and the teams goals, says Reisdorf with Robert Half. This more measured approach can be liberating and help you avoid project overload. Setting attainable and measurable goals will help guide your efforts, keeping you accountable for your progress while also highlighting areas where you might have the capacity to support others in a more balanced and sustainable way, says Reisdorf.
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You know you’ve said it. We all have. Mmm, that looks so deliciousI want to try some! That’s because when it comes to what we eat, it’s not just a matter of taste. What foods and drinks look likethe colors we see before the first morsels or sips hit our taste budshave mattered to people for millennia. And nowhere has that been more blatant than the American food palate, where the visual spectrum we choose from includes not only the primary colors but artificial ones that nature couldn’t even dream up. For well over a century, food manufacturers in the United States have used synthetic dyes in their products as part of their production and marketing efforts. Often, it’s been in hopes of making a mass-produced food look as fresh and natural as possible, reminiscent of the raw ingredients used in its production. In other cases, it’s been about making an item look interesting or distinctive from competitors, like candies or desserts in an electric blue or neon pink. Think blue raspberry Slurpee” or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. It hasn’t been without controversy. Over the decades, there have been pushback and government regulation over just how food and drink have been colored, most recently with the decision last month from the federal Food and Drug Administration to ban red dye No. 3 from foods and oral-ingested drugs because of concerns over a possible cancer risk. But no one’s calling for food NOT to be colorful. That’s because there’s no escaping the importance of what we see when it comes to what we eat, says Devina Wadhera, faculty associate at the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts of Arizona State University. Your first sensory contact, if your eyes are open, is going to be sight, she says. Thats going to be the first judgment were going to make. Visual appeal is pivotal The food manufacturers of the late 19th century knew they had to get the visual appeal right. It was part of their marketing, as a shorthand to encourage brand recognition, to make consumers feel comfortable about quality and overcome worries (or realities) about spoilage as food production became industrialized, says Ai Hisano, author of Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat. Synthetic dyes helped overcome problems like foods losing color in the production process and helped make foods look more natural, she says. Then, over time, dyes were deployed to make foods look fun and appealing to audiences like young children. (That doesn’t mean manufacturers didn’t sometimes use colorants that could even be deadlyhence the reason there’s regulation.) She pointed to the mid-20th century example of cake mixes, which reduced the amount of effort required to bake a cake at home because most of the ingredients were already included. Food companies began promoting colorful icing for the cakes as a way women baking at home could kind of present their personality even though they are making a premixed cake, Hisano says. We become conditioned to coloring The connections we make between colors and foods are learned, Wadhera says. Throughout our lives, we make associations which mean things. Cake is associated with birthdays. Ice cream is associated with parties and good times, so everything is associative learning. Color is one of those things that we have this tendency to learn about different flavor pairings. She gave the example of the spate of products like chips and other snacks that are marketed as having an extra kick. Often theyre super red because (companies are) trying to say, Hey, this is going to be spicy because theyre trying to get to this sensation or perception that this is going to be really spicybuy it. The connections that we make between color and taste can also change according to the context, says Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford. A blue liquid in a plastic cup in a bathroom? Could be minty mouthwash. The exact same color liquid, in a bar, held in a rocks glass? Could be bitter gin. Different cultures around the world also have different color associations, he says, although it’s fairly constant across geographies that the more vivid a color is, the more intense people assume the flavor will be. It can even extend past the food itself to the colors involved in its presentation, Wadhera says, pointing to research showing people eating different amounts or preferring certain foods linked to the colors of the dishes used to serve them. And much of the time, she says, people aren’t necessarily aware they’re doing it. Theres a lot of things with color that you can manipulate and affect judgments, she says. You dont think of it, though. . . . We make automatic judgments on the food and we dont even realize it. By Deepti Hajela, Associated Press
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