Wilson: Disastrous Formosa plastics plant in Texas is warning to St. James
Published 12:02 am Saturday, April 6, 2019
I have been fighting pollution from the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort, Texas for 30 years. I hope Louisiana residents and public officials heed this warning before allowing this serial polluter to expand to St. James.
The Point Comfort plant is an expansive 2,500 acre waterfront facility between Corpus Christi and Galveston. The plant uses ethane, a byproduct of natural gas, to make polypropylene, polyethylene and PVC: plastics.
Their products are used in industrial and commercial products, from traffic cones and plastic bags to industrial bleach. But the main product I see is pollution.
I am a former fourth generation Texas fisherwoman. My family has been in the Calhoun County area for 120 years, crabbing, fishing, shrimping and living off the water. I’ve been on the bay since I was 8 years old and started captaining my own boat when I was 24.
Formosa is literally destroying the water; I cannot stand it.
Every 24 hours the Formosa plant produces 1,000-1,300 ton es of powder and pellets per each of their 5 units. The products are supposed to be shipped out by rail and trucks, but in my experience a lot of their product blows with the wind and rain right into Cox Creek, Lavaca/Matagorda Bay and the Gulf.
Internal documents show that Formosa knew about the problem and admits that this type of pollution has been ongoing since they began production, roughly 26 years.
But state and national regulators have failed to hold Formosa accountable for their pollution, even though they are a well-known bad-actor. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation that found widespread evidence of illegal plastic pollution led nowhere.
The Texas Council on Environmental Quality has files full of our complaints, but has only charged Formosa for 6 days of pollution events. Along with the Waterkeeper organization, I have collected photographs, internal documents, testimonials from workers, evidence of plastic pollution to build the case against Formosa. But at every step evidence is ignored.
And that is just the pollution we can see. Practically speaking, Formosa regulates itself, so testing for invisible chemical pollution happens internally and the surrounding community is not informed about the results. My fear is invisible pollution might be hitching a ride on the plastics that show up on our shores and in our fisherman’s daily catch.
Finally, after countless complaints and collecting almost 2,500 pollution samples, the Waterkeeper and I are filing a Clean Water lawsuit against Formosa. It’s a citizen suit, which is allowed under the Clean Water Act when state and federal agencies fail to enforce the law. We are asking for $184 million in penalties, infrastructure improvements at the facility, for the company to stop releasing pollution into our Bay, and a cleanup.
Much of the damage the Point Comfort plant causes cannot be fixed. Not only has Formosa polluted our fish habitat and poisoned our livelihoods, but their pollution contributes directly to the climate crisis.
After all, plastic is just one more example of our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. But it isn’t too late to stop further damage. Formosa is looking to expand with the cruelly named Sunshine Project in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Let my story be a warning: do not approve permits for the Formosa Plastics plant in St. James.
— Diane Wilson, Seadrift, Texas