Feds Reconsidering Permit for Massive Plastics Plant in Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS (CN) — The Army Corps of Engineers will temporarily suspend a permit it issued for a $9.4 billion plastics complex in Louisiana as it takes another look at the project’s environmental impacts, government lawyers said in a motion filed Wednesday.
Taiwanese company Formosa Plastics’ proposed petrochemical plant in St. James Parish would be one of the largest facilities of its type in the world.
The Army Corps will explain by Tuesday why the “intended construction activities authorized under the permit” may not go forward, according to the Justice Department’s motion to stay filed in Washington federal court.
The government had until Thursday to reply to issues raised in a federal lawsuit filed in January by four environmental watchdog groups – the Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, Louisiana Bucket Brigade and Rise St. James – who said that in issuing the permit, the Corps merely accepted Formosa’s assessments of the project’s environmental impacts.
“The plant would pollute a predominantly Black community, disturb unmarked burial sites of enslaved people, degrade wetlands and add to the ocean plastic pollution crisis,” the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement Wednesday announcing the suspension. The lawsuit estimated that if plastics production continues unchecked, by 2050 plastics in the ocean will outweigh fish.
“I’m overjoyed by this news. This hopefully marks the beginning of our victory over Formosa Plastics,” said Sharon Lavigne of Rise St. James. “We’ve always said this project will harm our community. Now we need Formosa Plastics to leave St. James.”
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-reconsidering-permit-for-massive-plastics-plant-in-louisiana/
