By: Lani Wean, West Virginia Field Organizer
Date: July 14, 2026
About: Draft Permit #13-3728, Clean-Seas West Virginia, Inc.
To: West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
My name is Lani Wean, and I am the West Virginia Organizer for Moms Clean Air Force. I appreciate the opportunity to speak directly to you all tonight, and please expect a formal comment from me and my organization in writing.
Honestly, if I have one thing to say about the Clean Seas air construction permit at hand, it’s this: it is your responsibility to do this right—to protect the health and safety of West Virginians and challenge applicants, not to hold their hand, through this process. It is your job to fully investigate the feedstock makeup, emissions estimates, and background Clean Seas has provided about this facility, especially when the evidence from so many other plastics pyrolysis facilities in the country shows just how dangerous this process can be.
I have had the immense privilege of getting to know dozens, if not hundreds, of folks in this part of Kanawha County who are concerned about the construction of this facility. Smart, kind, thoughtful people who recognize that West Virginia has long been exploited and exposed to deadly pollutants by the chemical and plastics industries. This facility is poised to set a dangerous precedent for new petrochemical development in Kanawha County, and we know it. We’re here to make sure you know it too.
Pyrolysis incinerators like the one proposed for this site release vast amounts of dioxins, benzene, formaldehyde, particulate matter, and heavy metals into surrounding communities. It is proven that those exposed to pollution from pyrolysis facilities are at an increased risk for developing cancer, birth defects, respiratory impairment, neurological problems, and other health harms.
That being true, it is extremely concerning to me that this permit fails to account for all the emissions that experts expect to come from a facility like this—and it should really be classified as a major source, not a minor one. Pyrolysis has been classified as incineration under the Clean Air Act since 1995. But with the approval of this draft permit, the WVDEP would allow Clean Seas to be exempt from those exact Clean Air Act protections. Despite decades of research and construction, very few of these facilities remain operational in the U.S., and they have a track record of fires, explosions, technical failures, and most importantly for this permit, emissions violations. As proposed, this draft permit fails to protect the surrounding communities and puts the health and well-being of thousands of people at risk. And that’s on you.
So, I’m here to ask you, face-to-face, to do your job. I’m here to stand in solidarity with every single person who might be harmed by air pollution from this facility. We know that you know the dangerous realities of pyrolysis; I hope you’ll use that knowledge as you make a decision on this permit.