Louisiana judge cancels air permits for plastics plant (updated)
15/09/2022 08:46
(Adds Formosa Plastics comment)
By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A district court judge in
Louisiana on Wednesday vacated air permits for a plastic and
petrochemical plant proposed along Louisiana's industrialized
coast, delivering a major blow to a project that has faced years
of fierce opposition by local residents.
Baton Rouge District Judge Trudy White ruled in favor of
environmental and local community groups, who appealed the
decision by Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality to
issue air permits to Formosa Plastics 1301.TW for its enormous
Sunshine Project.
She said state regulators used "selective" and
"inconsistent" data in evaluating the permit application and
failed to consider the air quality impacts of the project on the
predominantly black local community of St James Parish.
"Because the agency's environmental justice analysis showed
disregard for and was contrary to substantiated competent public
evidence in the record, it was arbitrary and capricious," the
judge wrote in her opinion.
The decision is the latest blow to the proposed $9 billion
petrochemical and plastics complex in a Louisiana region
nicknamed “Cancer Alley,” home to several major petrochemical
facilities and refineries where black residents suffer high
rates of cancer.
If approved, it would have become one of the world’s largest
production facilities for plastics and plastic feedstocks.
Last August, the U.S. Army ordered a full environmental
review of the Taiwanese plastic firm's project after deciding
the original assessment of the project failed to properly weigh
the health impact of the project on the overburdened local
communities. The new review could take years.
Formosa Plastics said in an email the Sunshine Project was
the responsibility of Formosa Petrochemical Corp 6505.TW , in
which the company holds a 29% stake, and referred questions to
them. Formosa Petrochemical did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Nikki Reisch, director of the climate & energy program at
the Center for International Environmental Law, said the
decision sends a clear message to companies that they cannot
ignore the voice of local communities when proposing major
fossil fuel projects.
"The Court’s decision affirms that the harms caused by an
industrial facility, whether a plastics plant or a fossil fuel
refinery, cannot be assessed in isolation from surrounding
sources of pollution or from the broader context of the mounting
climate emergency, disproportionately harming marginalized
communities," said Reisch.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Additional reporting by Ben
Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher
Cushing)
((valerie.volcovici@thomsonreuters.com;))