Martin Mayer, the Corps of Engineers' regulatory chief in New Orleans, said the EIS process has "an average goal" of rendering a decision in two years. Pollution takes centre stage for Louisiana congressional hopefuls, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The EPA investigation comes after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said last year it would put the Formosa project through an additional review over concerns, "particularly those with environmental justice implications.". St. James Parish already contains 12 petrochemical facilities within ten miles and is home to predominantly low-income Black communities. nations third-biggest producer of natural gas. Fluor Daniel announced today it will relocate its Chicago offices to 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, effective January 22. A LOUISIANA JUDGE struck down air permits for Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics' 9 billion USD "Sunshine Project" earlier this month. 2017-2023 FG LA LLCAll rights reserved. 2017-2023 FG LA LLCAll rights reserved. factors, said Parks. Fluor is providing FEED for Formosa sunshine facility are an ethane cracker unit and propane dehydrogenation units with an annual capacity of 1.2 million metric tons and 600,000 metric tons. Specifically, EPA said it would review whether an Aug. 5, 2021, decision by the LDEQ to reissue 14 permits to Formosa "will subject the predominantly Black residents of St. James Parish to disproportionate levels of air pollution emitted by Formosa.". Formosa is a "serial offender" in violating environmental regulations, as well as putting workers and communities in danger. The company says its archaeologists used historical maps to identify two potentially unmarked burial locations. In March, however, a three-judge appellate panel said White had abused her discretion and sent the case back to her to reconsider. Plastics News would love to hear from you. FG LA LLCsproposedchemical The company committed to continue to work with the corps as we receive more guidance on the additional evaluation. Louisiana is the nations third-biggest producer of natural gas, and its lower stretch of the Mississippi already has more than 200 chemical plants and refineries. March 24, 2022 (IEEFA)Four key conditions have changed to make the construction of a massive Louisiana petrochemical plant even less viable over the past year, according to a study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The total impact of She has lived in the Fifth District her entire life, and her home is just across the street from one of the levees that helps hold back the Mississippi. The Center for Constitutional Rights contends there could be as many as five additional cemeteries based on public records requests it filed and the findings of an independent archaeologist. complex, known as the Sunshine Project, was Email your letter to Editor at [emailprotected]. She said the company has been in contact with the Corps over the environmental impact statement "in the interest of a fair and transparent process.". 6 Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao, which has also been linked to high rates of cancer among residents living nearby, and was built in collusion with the KMT developmentalist state, is also a Formosa project. Martin, the Corps regulatory chief, provided his explanation of the coming review process during a meeting with the community groups Rise St. James and Louisiana Bucket Brigade at the Freetown Street community hall in Welcome. Both Formosa and the community group take credit for finding the burial sites, accompanied by sharp rhetoric. The decision was hailed by environmental groups, who said it would send the large facility, called the Sunshine Project, "back to the drawing board" by revoking permits that Formosa received from . These two Democrats, who are not from our state, are not basing this on science, he said in a statement. Formosa Petrochemical has been trying to build the $9.4 billion petrochemical complex on more than 2,000 acres of land along the Mississippi River for years. For now, the Formosa project is on hold. Cancer Alleyenvironmental damage caused by Taiwanese companiesFormosa GroupFormosa PlasticsSunshine ProjectTaiwanese companies abroad. One affiliated with the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded last month that the Formosa plant would more than double the parishs cancer risks, which it said would be skewed toward African Americans. Many state and local leaders have praised its potential economic benefits: It is expected to create 1,200 permanent jobs, thousands more temporary construction jobs and generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue. The plant will make the plastic building blocks found in everyday products that help make our lives safer, healthier, cleaner and more efficient, Janile Parks, Formosa director of community and government relations, said in an email. Buena Vista Baptist Church now worships a couple thousand feet from a methanol plant and asphalt depot. 2022 Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis. "LDEQ will work with EPA to resolve this matter. Market factors also make the Formosa plant a poor investment. Access a host of content brought to you by ICIS Experts from around the world. Industrial plants and flooded . She said: Nobody took it upon themselves to speak for St James Parish until we started working to stop Formosa Plastics. Oftentimes, this draws on being grandfathered in through weaker past environmental regulations to avoid conducting an environmental impact assessment. People in Saint James dont speak up, not when jobs are on the line, Lavigne said. The 14 separate plastic plants, spread over a gargantuan 2,300 acres of land in St James Parish, could also emit up to 15,400 pounds of the cancer causing chemical ethylene oxide. The plant would also be built near a graveyard suspected of holding former slaves and become a major new source of the kind of disposable plastics already fouling the Mississippi, the Gulf of Mexico and the world's oceans, these critics add. On Wednesday, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for granting construction permits under the Clean Water Act, announced it would commission a full environmental impact statement, which advocates say could delay future construction for a number of years. The Formosa Sunshine Project in St. James Parish, Louisiana, will undergo a full formal environmental review, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced in a memorandum issued today and posted on Twitter.. Enter your email address to follow New Bloom Magazine and receive notifications of new posts by email. Source: Louisiana Department of Environmental Qualtiy; FG LA LLC. The planned construction, branded the Sunshine Project and proposed by a Formosa subsidiary named FG LA LLC, has been the subject of a number of federal and state lawsuits. This article was published more than1 year ago. In 2016, a steel plant owned by a Formosa subsidiary caused millions of dead fish washing up on the shorelines of four Vietnamese provinces. and businesses, including FG, said Janile Job Description: Fluor joint venture with Walsh Construction Company is seeking candidates for the CTA R&P project. Formosa's major businesses are oil refining, petrochemicals, plastics, fibers, textiles . Taiwanese academic Tsuang Ben-Jei of National Chung Hsing University being sued by Formosa Plastics, Cross Strait Relations Between Taiwan and China, Calling For a Return to Sinocentrism in the Name of Opposing It: Responding to Reconsidering Sinophone Studies. According to Anne Rolfes of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental activism group based in New Orleans, the result was a land-use plan that concentrates all industry in the two highest majority Black districts in the parish. Census data shows the Fifth District is 91 percent Black. The bulk of EPA's letters detailed its response to a petition from the environmental groups about a Denka Performance Elastomer LLC plant in nearby St. John the Baptist Parish, but the agency also said it would look at the Formosa complex because the groups raised similar concerns about it under Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964. Dont get me wrong, Lavigne said. FG is listening to the community and is committed to supporting initiatives that meet local needs in St. James Parish. construction until the pandemic has subsided Detroit MI 48207-2997, Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics, Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library, G7 commits to ending plastics pollution by 2040, Ipex owner Aliaxis offers $2B to buy Uponor, Data shows plastics' chronic labor shortage abating, Berry expanding stretch film production in Tennessee, Kickstart: Honoring the best companies, according to employees. The company has received all environmental The widespread impacts of a global pandemic, Tel: +49 (0) 621 39731 5555. "The company still has not received official notification from the Corps regarding the additional review or its components, nor did Acting Assistant Secretary Jaime Pinkham seek to meet with FG (last) week during his visit to the area, so we cannot comment further," Parks wrote. Th Sunshine Project being considered for development by Formosa Plastics is increasingly threatened by rising construction prices, more intense regulatory scrutiny, increased community opposition, and withering credit agency support, IEEFA found in its update of a 2021 report. But some local government and business leaders are trying to rally support for a project that could create about 1,200 permanent jobs and pour millions of dollars into the local economy. environmental damage caused by Taiwanese companies, Formosa Plastics Sunshine Project Would Be a Climate Disaster, and Must Be Stopped, Formosa Steel Saga Continues To Be Unresolved In Vietnam, Continued Protests In Vietnam Against Formosa Steel, Arrest Of 22-Year-Old Vietnamese Blogger For Reporting On Wrongdoings Of Taiwanese Company, Construction Plans by Formosa Plastics in Louisiana Call Attention to the Companys Human Rights Abuses, Demonstration Against Fish Die-Offs Caused By Formosa Plastics In Vietnam, Never Mind China's Drills, Quincy Institute Article Views America as Sole Agent of Rising Tensions. New Mexico, Navajo utilities team up to bring renewables to tribal land, G7 backs higher targets for wind and solar, Bechtel cancels planned 1,240-megawatt gas plant in Pennsylvania, Lithuanian developer plans 500 megawatts of solar projects in Italy, Iberdrola begins construction of first hybrid wind-solar project in Spain, Report: U.S. transmission expansion struggles to keep pace with renewables growth, Asian Development Bank launches transition fund for South, Southeast Asia, Duke brings 150 megawatts of community solar capacity to Florida, Skyborn Renewables plans largest offshore wind farm in Sweden, French banking group plans new restrictions on oil and gas lending, Study reveals massive methane leaks in Louisiana, Adani Green reports 49% addition to renewable energy capacity in FY2023, INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS. "I mean really the goal of the EIS is to get everybody's input," Mayer said. Formosa defers major construction on US Sunshine Formosa's Louisiana Project Update: Supply and Demand Dynamics, Legal Challenges Bode Ill 5 Figure 2: New Global Ethylene Capacity (2016-2026) Source: IEEFA and IHS Markit data. He also examines such areas as community and shareholder activism, institutional investment, public subsidies and Puerto Ricos energy economics. polypropylene (PP) plant, according to the ICIS half of 2020, including [the] Recently, in response to a reference to Cancer Alley by President Biden, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Sunshine Project, Janile Parks, said the short memo from the Army Corps of Engineers provides little detail on the agencys new evaluation. "We will forever remember Mr. Pinkham for taking this initial step. Europe has a short window of opportunity to formulate a vision and redirect capital to scale up green investments as global Green Wars intensify. The yellow line marks a distance of two miles from Formosa's site. New Bloom is an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake of the Sunflower Movement. The Corps still needs to reach an agreement with FG LA LLC, the Formosa affiliate behind the project, on the scope of the work. Now the world is watching this important victory for environmental justice.. In addition, the real growth in chemical plants took place over the past decade, meaning many ill effects may not have had time to develop. On April 8, in a symbolic gesture, the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to declare its opposition. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the new 0.2 guideline matches its minimum acceptable lifetime cancer risk level for air pollution, though state regulators dispute it. He is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. 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