Plastic company set to pay $50M settlement in water pollution suit brought on by Texas residents

[TexasTowelie]

by Stacy Fernández, Texas Tribune


Petrochemical manufacturer Formosa Plastics has agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit in which a judge ruled the company illegally dumped billions of plastic pellets and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and other waterways, according to the settlement.

In addition to the financial settlement, the company agreed to comply with “zero discharge” of all plastics in the future and to clean up existing pollution.

For a decade, Port Lavaca-area residents and environmental groups urged state and federal regulators to hold Formosa Plastics accountable for what they alleged was the rampant and illegal discharge of plastic pellets and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and nearby waterways. Formosa has a plant in Point Comfort on Lavaca Bay.

“The years of fighting to protect the natural resources of the Lavaca Bay-Cox Creek area have finally paid off,” Diane Wilson, a former shrimper and a plaintiff in the suit, said in a statement released Tuesday by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represented the residents who filed suit. “It’s a huge victory for the environment — and for the people who love and depend upon it. We look forward to working with Formosa to restore the health of our environment and make sure it stays pristine.”

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/15/formosa-plastics-pay-50-million-texas-clean-water-act-lawsuit/