Environmental and community groups that want to keep a Taiwanese company's plastics complex out of south
The groups include those that sued in federal court last month to challenge the
“Formosa Plastics would build this complex a mile from an elementary school in Welcome, and less than one mile from the community of
The permits violate state law, regulations and the state
"We don't comment on ongoing litigation,” department spokesman
“FG is committed to protecting the health and safety of its employees and the community as well as the environment," and chose the site because it is in an industrial-zoned area away from parish population centers, she said.
She said the company has talked with hundreds of
The permits would let Formosa emit more than 800 tons (726 metric tonnes) of toxic air pollutants a year, equaling the amount already emitted by plants in
They would let the company release fine particulates and nitrogen dioxide in an area that already violates EPA’s mandatory national standards, the suit alleges. “And they would allow
Area residents asked the state agency to deny the permits, filling a public hearing room and sending more than 15,000 written comments, but the department made only minor changes, essentially granting what the company proposed, it said.
“LDEQ doesn't care about people's lives. They should have consulted the citizens of
According to the lawsuit, the state department let Formosa assume that it would be able to cut “dangerous cancer-causing ethylene oxide” emissions by 99.9% without verifying that there is a device that can capture that percentage. “Even assuming a 99.9 percent reduction, it ignored that this Complex would become one of the biggest ethylene oxide emitters in the nation,” the suit stated.
The suit was filed by the four organizations that filed last month's lawsuit —
FG LA is getting about
This version has been corrected to remove an erroneous line in the story summary saying the company declined to comment, and to add a comment from the company.
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