NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans City Council is expected to vote on a resolution opposing the construction of the Formosa Petrochemical Plant in St. James parish.
The resolution, sponsored by Councilmembers Kristen Palmer and Cyndi Nguyen, says the petrochemical facility poses a threat to the health of our waterways such as the Mississippi River and Lake Des Allemands.
Palmer said that she and Ngyuen see the effects of the 2020 Bianca Spill, when a cargo ship let loose millions of plastic pellets called nurdles, every day along the Mississippi river.
“The main reason why I'm so motivated about this is that there is no one who is affecting the clean up at all aside from volunteers and when you have multimillion dollar, multibillion dollar companies that are doing this we have the Louisiana DEQ, we have the state, we have the feds, Army Corps of Engineers, no one is taking responsibility for this," Palmer said. "Why are we building more and expanding the foot print of our plastics companies if we're failing to even do basic cleanup in our waterways?”
The resolution is backed by local restaurant owners, including the Brennan Family who released a statement on the impacts building the petrochemical facility would have on our seafood industry.
The resolution will be taken up this Thursday.
Read the full letter from the Brennan Family Restaurants COO below: