Environmental groups file suit against Army Corp. of Engineers
21st January 2020 · 0 Comments
By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
Last week, environmental groups and local advocates filed a federal lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, challenging their approval of two permits for Formosa’s planned chemical complex in St. James Parish.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of an air permit that allows Formosa to begin preliminary construction. Slated to take about a decade to build, the complex will eventually produce plastics made from ethane, something analysis estimates will more than double the amount of harmful emissions in the parish. The state contends that Formosa’s permit application meets all the requirements of federal and state law.
Environmental groups argue that the state, as well as parish officials and the Army Corps of Engineers, did not thoroughly investigate the potential impacts of the new $9.4-billion facility, which officials spent years, and $1.5 billion in incentives, luring to St. James Parish.
“They aren’t required to look at the cumulative impact of pollution, in an area with several facilities already in operation,” said Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. “I’ve been doing this work for twenty years, and I’ve never seen the state find a significant problem with a permit application. They have a rubber stamp, and they use it without doing meaningful review. The Corps did the same thing.”
In the recently filed lawsuit, the Bucket Brigade, along with Rise St. James, Healthy Gulf and the Center for Biological Diversity, asked the Corps to rescind Formosa’s Clean Water Act and rivers and Harbors Act permits it issued in September and to conduct a full environmental study. The suit contends that the Corps has violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving the permit without adequately analyzing air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, or downstream impacts.
“Their analysis was woefully inadequate,” Emily Jeffers, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “They also didn’t take into account that this complex will go into a low income, primarily African-American neighborhood that already bears an undue burden of pollution, making it inadequate under the law.”
The groups’ lawsuit also asserts that the Corps has violated the National Historic Preservation Act in failing to consider the harm to burial sites of enslaved persons found on the property. For years, nearby residents have said that graves remain on the proposed site. A 19th century map indicated two burial plots, one of which was later confirmed by a contractor the company hired, in an area that will be a buffer zone for the plant.
The location of these sites became publicly known in December 2019, disclosed following a public records request that revealed emails between Formosa and state officials discussing the possibility of graves as early as the summer of 2018.
“Formosa knew about these graves throughout the federal and state permitting process and failed to mention them, while hosting public events celebrating Black History Month and engaging in a disgusting outreach campaign with local residents, many of whom trace their ancestry back to enslaved people,” Rolfes said.
The company has fenced off the area where remains were found, and a spokeswoman told The Guardian that, “as the project progresses, Formosa will follow all applicable state and federal laws in regards to the burial ground and public notification.”
For local advocates, the discovery of graves is another reason on a long list of reasons not to construct the facility. “My family has been here for generations,” said Sharon Lavigne, founder and president of Rise St. James. “The government is favoring foreign corporations over families like mine. We can’t handle another plant here. Too many people are already sick and dying. What will happen if the toxic chemicals double?”
A spokesman for the Corps said the organization cannot comment on pending litigation.
In addition to the suit filed against the Corps, environmental organizations and advocates plan to appear at the next St. James council meeting on January 21 to request that parish officials review Formosa’s previously-approved land use permit, arguing that the new information about graves on the site as well as false information the company provided to the council shows that Formosa is not operationally transparent.
“Formosa gave false information to the parish,” Rolfes said. “They sent a letter to the director of operations, saying that they had revised their site plan, moving the most dangerous units away from the population. They haven’t done that. There is no record with the Department of Environmental Quality that any changes were made. We think they misled the parish on that, and if that’s happening at this early stage of the process, what will happen years down the road?”
Formosa’s air permit approval is significant, though several water permits await before the facility will be completely approved. In the meantime, advocates and local residents are searching to find more information on potential grave sites before construction begins.
“We are worried that they will disturb graves, because the first step of the construction process is preparing the ground,” Rolfes said. “This is a monster facility, not an ordinary plant, and our state simply does not have the capacity to provide the right oversight.”
This article originally published in the January 20, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
