What it really comes down to is a political and legal environment that allows or even encourages grift at an industrial scale and has largely erased public accountability by turning everything into a divided political issue (and proletariat politics into a sort of “sports team” identity)
It’s genius in a malevolent way, and absolutely nullifies the democratic process in favor of corporate oligarchy.
There are plenty of dirty, noisy, disruptive industrial buildings out there. Smelters, quarries, incinerators, etc.
Fine to build them. Don't build them next to houses, build them next to each other.