Empire Diversified Energy’s proposed pyrolysis facility in Follansbee, West Virginia poses serious health and environmental threats to nearby residents and is unlikely to generate significant economic impact, according to a new report from Ohio River Valley Institute Economist and Senior Researcher Nick Messenger.

Across the country, pilot pyrolysis facilities have attempted to process difficult-to-recycle waste plastic into fuels, gases, and new plastic products. But these facilities have struggled with technological hurdles and underdeveloped supply chains, falling into bankruptcy and loan defaults. And many of the harmful, cancer-causing additives in waste plastic can be released into communities through the pyrolysis process.

Join Messenger at the Brooke County Senior Center on Thursday, May 8, for a town hall discussion on the risks Empire Diverisified’s pyrolysis project poses to local residents.