The Taft Plant, operated by Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), sits along Louisiana’s heavily industrialized river corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Like many facilities in the region, the plant plays a role in the state’s vast petrochemical network, producing essential compounds for plastics, coatings, and other materials that fuel modern life. At night, its illuminated sign cuts through the darkness, a quiet marker of the sprawling industry that has shaped both the economy and the environmental debates of the Mississippi River corridor.

The Baton Rouge Chemicals North complex of ExxonMobil stands along Scenic Highway in Louisiana’s industrial corridor. Part of one of the largest integrated refining and petrochemical operations in the United States, this facility produces a wide range of industrial chemicals used globally. The illuminated sign reflects both the company’s deep roots in the Baton Rouge area and the economic and environmental legacy of the region’s petrochemical industry.

Steam rises from the Barry & Sewall Chemical Company complex in Northeast Minneapolis, a facility known for producing adhesives, coatings, and specialty chemicals for over a century. Illuminated by floodlights and framed by dense pipe networks, the site reflects the city’s enduring industrial infrastructure along the rail and river corridors. The hand-painted logo on the wall remains a remnant of mid-20th-century branding still visible across many older manufacturing sites in the Twin Cities.