A Louisiana judge has thrown out air quality permits for a Taiwanese company’s planned US$9.4 billion plastics complex between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a rare win for environmentalists in a heavily industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River often referred to as “Cancer Alley.”
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) disregarded its environmental justice analysis while contravening the state’s Clean Air Act and the agency’s duty to protect the public, District Judge Trudy White wrote.
Opponents of the plans called Wednesday’s ruling a victory for environmental justice.
Photo: AP
FG LA LLC, the Louisiana unit of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), on Thursday said that it would appeal the decision.
“Stopping Formosa Plastics has been a fight for our lives, and today David has toppled Goliath,” said Sharon Lavigne, who founded the group Rise St James in 2018 to fight plans for the plant.
“The judge’s decision sends a message to polluters like Formosa that communities of color have a right to clean air, and we must not be sacrifice zones,” she said.
For Lavigne and other residents, “the blood, sweat and tears of their ancestors is tied to the land” once dominated by plantations where enslaved people labored, the judge wrote.
FG LA wants to build 10 chemical plants and four other major facilities on 1,000 hectares near Welcome, a mostly black community of about 670 people.
“FG respectfully disagrees with Judge White’s conclusion,” the company said in a statement.
FG intervened in the lawsuit to support the department.
“We believe the permits issued to FG by LDEQ are sound and the agency properly performed its duty to protect the environment in the issuance of those air permits,” FG said.
The complex is among current and proposed facilities involved in a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigation of whether state health and environmental agencies have discriminated against black residents.
The Army Corps of Engineers has also been reviewing its environmental assessment of Formosa’s wetlands permits since last year, under orders from the Pentagon.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and local officials have promoted the project, saying it could generate 1,200 permanent jobs and substantial tax revenue.
White’s ruling said Louisiana’s environmental justice analysis ignored EPA evidence that the cancer risk from industrial pollution already makes Welcome “one of the most burdened communities in the United States.”
“LDEQ never weighed the impacts associated with the 13.6 million tons per year of greenhouse gases that LDEQ has authorized ... against the purported benefits of the project, and the added environmental burden to already over-burdened majority-black communities,” she wrote.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
RSS