“Living next to Formosa Plastics, the perpetual risk to our health, livelihood, security, and hard-earned property is beyond anyone’s imagination,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder of RISE St. James. “Formosa Plastics would wipe the 5th district of St. James off the map, adding to the number of historically black communities that have become extinct due to the intrusion of petrochemical industries.” 

The facility can only be constructed with a federal wetlands permit. The International Monitor Formosa Plastics Alliance recently met with Biden Administration officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, delivering over 96,000 signatures to the letter asking that this permit not be granted.

“This ruling is incredibly disappointing and an indicator that the government is willing to put polluters over people,” said Nancy Bui, co-founder of the International Monitor Formosa Plastics Alliance. “Nevertheless, we will not stop the fight. We will continue to move forward until this Formosa Plastics facility is fully rejected and those affected by their destructive practices worldwide are compensated.”

Formosa Plastics has wreaked havoc on communities globally, from Vietnam to Texas. Their steel subsidiary paid the Vietnamese government $500 million after a toxic chemical spill in 2016, causing one of the most significant environmental disasters in Vietnam’s history. Thousands of victims have yet to receive compensation, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel continues to deny an independent environmental study on the current status of marine pollution, and 23 advocates are currently imprisoned for speaking out.

In Texas, Formosa Plastics repeatedly violated chemical accident prevention provisions in the Clean Water Act and discharged massive amounts of plastic pollution in waterways, leading to a $50 million settlement. Although the settlement included a mandate for zero discharge of plastic, the Point Comfort, Texas, plant has received $14.185 million in penalties for 563 violations since the settlement was enacted in February 2020. Since June 2021, the facility has been tested thrice weekly, with each test confirming ongoing violations. 

“It is possible to hold corporate polluters accountable,” said Diane Wilson, 2023 Goldman Prize Winner and environmental activist who led the lawsuit against Formosa Plastics’ Point Comfort facility. “This decision by the Louisiana courts is a huge blow to St. James residents’ right to clean water and air. We must persist and refuse to give up on stopping Formosa Plastics’ historic and extensive cycle of destructive pollution.”

“This ruling is another reminder that petrochemical companies lack accountability,” said Paloma Henriques, Senior Petrochemical Campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “The US government, backed by the courts, continues to allow rampant pollution that harms communities at the production site as well as our shared environment and oceans downstream. We need an immediate halt to new and expanded production facilities and a strong and binding Global Plastics Treaty. In addition, banks must stop financing reckless companies like Formosa Plastics. It’s time to step up and address the plastics crisis head-on.”

Communications Contacts: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org // Gary Watson, gary@garywatsonllc.com

The post Environmentalists Condemn Louisiana Court’s Decision to Uphold Air Permits for Formosa Plastics Facility appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Since the disaster, fishermen who attempted to call for action have been imprisoned and journalists advocating on behalf of victims have been detained. In June 2019, nearly 8,000 victims filed a suit against Formosa Plastics Group, and the legal process is ongoing. 

“Formosa Plastics and the Vietnamese government have sidestepped accountability for too long,” says Paloma Henriques, Senior Petrochemical Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, “President Biden has the opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to environmental justice by advocating on behalf of the victims of this ecological and human rights disaster. We call on the Biden Administration to pursue an independent inquiry to ensure pollution has ceased, a comprehensive cleanup has occurred, and livelihoods are restored. We also urge them to pressure the Vietnamese government to compensate victims and release political prisoners jailed for standing up for their communities.”

COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT: Erika Seiber, eseiber@foe.org

The post Activists Call for Justice for Victims of Formosa Plastics Disaster as President Biden Visits Vietnam appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Petrochemical companies such as Formosa Plastics often look to big banks and other financial institutions to help fund their toxic facilities. That’s why frontline communities are rising up in full force to tell banks that these dirty, racist and risky industries have no business in their backyards.  

Almost 60,000 activists signed a petition from RISE St. James, Friends of the Earth, Earthworks and a coalition of environmental and social justice organizations telling JPMorgan Chase bank not to invest in Formosa Plastics and denounce the company’s proposed Sunshine Project in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The new petrochemicals complex would be in “Cancer Alley,” a predominantly Black community along the Mississippi River already sickened from the air and other toxic pollution from over 200 industrial plants. 

This week, our friends at GreenFaith and Dayenu delivered the petition to JPMorgan Chase’s New York headquarters during the bank’s Annual General Meeting. The groups educated those present about the harmful and unjust proposed Sunshine Project, read the petition out loud and led a spiritual grounding and blessing before handing the petition to bank staff. 

Photos courtesy of Erik McGregor

The petition notes that the proposed Sunshine Project could increase toxic air emissions by 800 tons yearly, increase greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6 million tons yearly and destroy the burial grounds of enslaved ancestors of some of the current population of St. James Parish. United Nations human rights experts have also called for an end to further industrializing “Cancer Alley,” describing the high concentration of industrial plants along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi as a case of “environmental racism.” 

The petition demands JPMorgan Chase:  

• Publicly denounce environmental racism and the Sunshine Project 
• Publicly commit to not directly or indirectly finance the Sunshine project or related projects 
• Cease and refrain from any financing of Formosa Plastics and its affiliate companies (loans, asset management, underwriting of debt and equities)  
• Invest in community-led, environmentally responsible alternatives in St. James Parish, Louisiana 

Even though JPMorgan Chase has made pledges to “responsibly invest” and support racial equity, it is the largest US financier of the plastics industry and still holds shares in Formosa Plastics. It’s time they act on their promises. A commitment by JPMorgan Chase not to invest in the Sunshine Project and Formosa Plastics would send a strong signal that this toxic and racist petrochemicals complex is simply “uninvestable.” 

More plastics production and toxins in our environment and our bodies is the last thing we need. When enough people band together to fight injustice, true change can happen.  

There is strength in numbers, and tens of thousands of us agree: JPMorgan Chase must invest in communities, not Formosa Plastics.  

The post 60,000 activists tell JPMorgan Chase: Denounce, divest and defund Formosa Plastics’ toxic and racist petrochemical complex   appeared first on Friends of the Earth.

Signatories to the letter from RISE St. James include residents and community groups, major U.S. civil society organizations, and international groups concerned about toxic air pollution caused by the proposed plastics plant. They criticized the environmental racism of siting the plant in Cancer Alley, a predominantly Black community already suffering from exposure to industrial air pollution.

“Formosa Plastics will destroy our land, our homes, and the lives of our community. We’re saying enough is enough, and we’re standing up for a better, cleaner future for ourselves and our children. Banks shouldn’t finance this level of pollution, and if they want to show that they can be responsible then they need to say no to Formosa,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and president of RISE St. James.

The plant would also exacerbate climate change with annual greenhouse gas emissions of over 13.5 million tons. The Formosa Plastics plant would be the largest new source of greenhouse gases of any oil, gas or chemical infrastructure project in the United States. According to the company’s own literature, the facility would double the toxic air pollution in St. James Parish. Formosa Plastics’ proposed project “pollutes too much for Taiwan,” according to a Bloomberg report about how it wouldn’t be allowed in Formosa’s home country.

Instead it will be located within an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that is widely known as Cancer Alley or Death Alley due to the number of petrochemical facilities that populate the area. The region is also predominantly inhabited by historic Black neighborhoods, including St. James Parish. In the 10-mile radius around St. James alone, there are twelve toxic petrochemical facilities.

In March 2021, United Nations human rights experts raised serious concerns over further industrialization of Cancer Alley, specifically citing concern over Formosa’s proposed plant and calling it “environmental racism” and a human rights violation.

A recent investment report on the plant’s financial viability concluded that it is offering “the wrong products, at the wrong time, at the wrong price, in the wrong place, and with the wrong financial calculus.” Formosa also faces ongoing legal challenges and unanimous opposition from the New Orleans City council as well as residents and social justice advocates.

Click here to read the full letter and list of signatories calling on the leading financiers of the plant to pull their agreement to fund.

Organizations who signed the letter provided the following statements:

“Formosa Plastics will destroy our land, our homes, and the lives of our community. We’re saying enough is enough, and we’re standing up for a better, cleaner future for ourselves and our children. Banks shouldn’t finance this level of pollution, and if they want to show that they can be responsible then they need to say no to Formosa,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and president of RISE St. James, a faith-based grassroots organization formed in opposition to the Formosa plant.  

“Banks and asset managers investing in Formosa’s ‘Sunshine Project’ are not only taking a huge financial risk, but they would also do untold harm to their reputation if they back a project that is becoming a bellwether for how seriously investors take environmental racism,” said Maaike Beenes, climate campaigner at BankTrack, an international organization monitoring fossil fuel finance, environmental and human rights concerns raised by the activities of private sector commercial banks. 

“Banks and financiers should not fund Formosa, and should cut their support for all entities and initiatives that undermine human rights. Our experience shows that Formosa is a bad neighbor, decimating the local environment, provoking recurrent explosions, polluting our air and water, and damaging our health. We want to help the people of St. James to avoid the same problems,” said Yuanher Robin Hwang, head of the Self-help Association to Seek Full Compensation from the Sixth Naphtha Cracker, an organization seeking damages for premature deaths, cancer and air pollution caused by Taiwan’s largest petrochemicals complex, which is owned by Formosa Plastics group.

Communications contact: Kaela Bamberger, (202) 222-0703, kbamberger@foe.org 
Expert contact: Sharon Lavigne, (225) 206-0900, sharonclavigne@gmail.com

The post 175 Organizations Call on Banks Not to Finance Formosa Plastics’ Louisiana Plant appeared first on Friends of the Earth.