ST. JAMES PARISH, La. — Environmental and community groups are challenging the latest air quality permits granted by state regulators signing off on the construction of the Formosa Plastics complex in St. James Parish – potentially the largest industrial facility in the state, centered in an area shouldering the controversial moniker of "Cancer Alley" because of the numerous nearby chemical plants and high cancer risk.
The final permits from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality would double the amount of chemicals the Taiwanese company's $9.4 billion complex – planned as 14 separate facilities – could pump into the north St. James Parish air.
The Formosa complex would produce products such as plastic bottles and grocery bags.
"Formosa Plastics would build this complex a mile from an elementary school in Welcome, and less than one mile from the community of Union. Its massive air pollution emissions would vastly add to the significant environmental and health burden that African American communities in and near St. James must suffer," Earthjustice lawyers said in the appeal.
Formosa Plastics originally submitted air quality permit applications for the facility in 2015. Those permits were approved.
Four years later, they submitted new documents to replace the old permits, asking the state to double the amount of emissions the facility could produce.
Those permits, which were approved by LDEQ in January, allow the Formosa complex to put over 800 tons of pollutants into the air per year.
The air in St. James Parish near industrial facilities already poses the highest risk of cancer in the U.S. That ranking, confirmed and disputed by various anti and pro-industrial groups, has earned the area the name "Cancer Alley."
And if the permits stand, Fromosa's facility would double the annual output for the parish.
The lawsuit also claims that Formosa's own self-reported data shows the emissions would violate federal and state standards.
During the public comment period in 2019 about the changes, St. James Parish residents gave LDEQ officials more than 15,000 written comments urging the agency to deny the permits. The department moved ahead anyway with minor changes, the appeal alleges.
“Louisiana violated the Clean Air Act when they gave Formosa the greenlight to double toxic air pollution in St. James,” said Earthjustice attorney Corinne Van Dalen in a statement. “It’s time for LDEQ to put Louisianans first and reject more pollution that puts their health, safety, and environment at risk.”
A LDEQ spokesman said Monday the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Formosa did tout its due diligence on environmental regulations to The Advocate in an article in January.
"FG is pleased to have completed the rigorous environmental permitting process," said Janile Parks, FG LA's director of community and government relations. "Our team has worked diligently to design a facility that meets state and federal standards that protect the health and safety of our employees, community and the environment."
"We will continue to invest in and address real needs in St. James," Parks added in a statement, "through projects and initiatives developed with feedback from people who live and work in the local area."
The Valentine's Day filing by Earthjustice is on behalf of RISE St. James, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, No Waste Louisiana, Earthworks and the Sierra Club.
Several of the petitioning groups were also involved in a January lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers over federal permits granted to Formosa.
Formosa Plastics did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the legal challenge and the allegations made in the court filing.
Formosa's proposed facility has been controversial for a number of reasons. Alongside the Army Corps lawsuit and the air quality challenge, activists and the state's archeology division have identified what they believe is a burial site for slaves who were forced to work on a plantation in the 1800s.
Eyewitness News' Charisse Gibson dove into the fight over industrial production in St. James Parish in a two-part series called Victims of Progress.
You can read those stories and watch the videos here:
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