Environmental groups oppose $1B petrochemical plant

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is on track to approve an air pollution permit for a $1 billion petrochemical plant in Geismar, which would be the world’s largest plastics plant of its kind.

Mitsubishi Chemical Co. plans to build a $1 billion facility on a 77-acre site in Geismar that’s capable of producing 385,000 tons annually of methyl methacrylate (MMA), a chemical used in a variety of paints, adhesives, building panels and other acrylic polymers. The company is asking LDEQ for a permit that would allow the plant to emit hundreds of tons of toxic gasses, as well as nearly 781,000 tons of greenhouse gas per year. It would rank the plant among the state’s top 50 pollution emitters, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Located along the Mississippi River in Ascension Parish, Geismar is within the so-called “Cancer Alley” petrochemical corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that has among the worst air quality and highest rates of cancer in the country. More than 5,000 residents live within a 3-mile radius of the proposed Mitsubishi plant, and they are already surrounded by a number of petrochemical plants such as those owned by BASF, Occidental Chemical Corp, Shell Chemical, Rubicon, Westlake Chemical and Air Products.

In a notice requesting comments from the public regarding whether or not to grant the air permit, LDEQ stated that the project is not “expected to have a significant adverse impact on soil, vegetation, visibility, or air quality in the area of the facility.”

Some Ascension Parish residents and environmental activists disagree. They voiced opposition at a public hearing LDEQ held Thursday and disseminated statements to reporters afterwards.

Pamela Ambeau, who lives in Ascension Parish and helps run the local environmental group Rural Roots Louisiana, said the Mitsubishi facility would add air pollution to an area already overloaded with petrochemical plant emissions.

“The air here is already so dirty that the kids can’t play outside anymore,” Ambeau said in a statement. “I just can’t believe they’re trying to build another toxic plant right on top of us. It makes me furious, and I know it makes my neighbors and family members just as furious, too. That’s why we’re telling LDEQ loud and clear that Mitsubishi is not welcome here, and that we’re not going to stop until this plant is gone and our kids can play outside again.”

Former Gov. John Bel Edwards helped bring Mitsubishi to the state back by offering a $4 million grant and access to lucrative incentives such as the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP) and Quality Jobs tax credit program. The company has qualified for roughly $168 million in ITEP incentives over a 10-year period from Ascension Parish taxpayers.

The project is expected to have an economic impact of over $1 billion and create 125 permanent jobs with an average annual salary of $100,000, according to a Louisiana Economic Development statement from Dec. 8, 2020.

The Geismar plant would be Mitsubishi’s third globally that produces MMA using ethylene, a chemical synthesized from natural gas. The company’s only other MMA-producing site in the U.S. is in Memphis but uses older technologies. The company said its newer technology has a “significantly lower carbon footprint.”

“The Geismar project would be the third and largest commercial application of (Mitsubishi’s) proprietary Alpha technology, which was first deployed in 2008,” company executive Hitoshi Sasaki said. “This technology and plant design are perfectly matched for the shale gas-based feedstock slate in the United States, and strengthens our global leadership in the MMA merchant market.”

LDEQ is expected to grant the air permit this year, and construction could begin as early as 2025.

This article originally published in the February 12, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.