In March of 2022, environmental organizations and frontline communities from all over the world fought hard to win a United Nations Environment Assembly resolution to create an international, legally binding agreement to reduce plastic pollution. Since then, the movement has been keeping up the pressure to ensure it addresses the full life cycle of plastic from extraction to disposal, including reduction targets.
Two projects fiscally sponsored at OAEC, Fenceline Watch and PACAN (Port Arthur Community Action Network), have been active participants in these global meetings of the International Negotiating Committee. Both are based in the Gulf Coast of Texas. Fenceline Watch works to end toxic multi-generational harm to communities living along the fenceline of industry, and PACAN’s mission is to ensure that every family in Port Arthur, Texas, has the right to clean air, safe water, good jobs, and a sustainable future. Both organizations bring attention to the human rights violations caused by the petrochemical industry in their communities.
Below, John Beard, Jr, the founder of PACAN, gives powerful testimony at the 6th meeting of the UN Environmental Assembly International Negotiating Committee on August 5, 2025.
