Two Women, One Goal: Stopping Formosa Plastics

After polluting Texas waterways with plastic, the company is targeting Louisiana

Diane Wilson and Sharon Lavigne (right) together at the Formosa Town Hall RISE St. James organized in early March.

Diane Wilson exposed Formosa Plastics’ rampant pollution of Texas waterways. Sharon Lavigne has been leading the opposition to the company’s massive proposed petrochemical complex in Louisiana. Recently the two came together to demand that the St. James Parish Council rescind approval for Formosa’s plastic-making project, which threatens the health of Louisiana communities, the Gulf of Mexico and the stability of our planet.

This is the story of two inspiring activists who learned of the damage being done by Formosa Plastics, a subsidiary of a Taiwanese conglomerate, to the Gulf Coast. They’re trying to awaken public officials to the many risks of turning our country’s oversupply of fracked gas into mountains of throwaway plastic.

Diane Wilson documented the billions of plastic nurdles Formosa Plastics discharged into Texas waterways (Credit: Diane Wilson)

Diane, a longtime activist and retired shrimper, spent four years painstakingly collecting samples of plastic pellets in the waterways outside Formosa’s Point Comfort, Texas petrochemical complex. She recently won a landmark legal victory requiring Formosa Plastics to pay $50 million for cleaning up and mitigating plastic pollution, the largest settlement of a Clean Water Act citizen lawsuit in history.

In addition to millions of dollars for the cleanup, the lawsuit also committed the company to clean up its plastic pollution and meet a zero discharge of plastic into waterways standard going forward — an unprecedented win against a corporation that has plagued her community for decades.

Diane recently made the seven-hour drive from her hometown of Seadrift, Texas to St. James Parish, Louisiana to tell her story. I was there to hear it, too.

Although she was only given five minutes to present to the St. James Parish Council, her story was powerful and poignant. She brought poster-sized photos and detailed the decades of plastic pollution and malfeasance Formosa had brought to her town. She urged the Parish Council and St. James residents in the audience to learn from what happened in Texas and not trust this profit-hungry corporation.

Diane presenting to the St. James Parish Council members with posters and jars of plastic pollution.

Sharon sat in the benches of the council chamber watching Diane’s presentation, nodding in support. She’s the founder and director of RISE St. James, a grassroots, faith-based group of St. James residents fighting the new Formosa plant proposed for St. James and the toxic pollution and environmental racism that will come with it.

Formosa has a long history of environmental violations. During the Texas trial against Formosa, a federal judge labeled the company a “serial offender” for its egregious Clean Water Act violations. Diane said company officials exhibit little care for her community, or the workers they employ. Formosa’s top priority is the production of plastic and the profit that comes with it. Diane said Formosa earns over $1 billion in revenue each year from its Point Comfort plastic plant alone.

She showed a photo of a Formosa worker surrounded by polyvinyl chloride (PVC) powder, one of the types of plastic the Point Comfort plant manufactures. In the photo the worker wears a handkerchief to cover his nose and mouth, which Diane said he bought himself to protect himself from breathing plastic.

Diane’s trip to St. James Parish delivered a message of solidarity to the grassroots movement growing in St. James as it fights the same company from building a massive petrochemical complex in its community.

The story of Sharon Lavigne and her allies’ fight against Formosa Plastics, in a video sponsored by Louisiana Bucket Brigade and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Sharon is a retired schoolteacher who says God and her faith give her the strength to take on Formosa. She and RISE advocate for a moratorium on any new oil, gas, or petrochemical projects in their parish. The industrial pollution they face daily is already hurting their community, and the proposed Formosa plant would double the toxic air emissions St. James Parish residents are exposed to.

The cancer risk from air pollution in the parish is higher than the national average, with St. James seeing a six-fold increase in cancer risk as industrial pollution in the parish has grown over the past decade. It’s more than just numbers. Sharon and her allies say everyone in St. James has friends and family members who have died from cancer or are currently battling it.

Sharon is fighting for environmental justice. The site where the Formosa plant is slated to be built is in the Fifth District of St. James, a majority black district already overflowing with industrial facilities. She and her allies recently learned that the construction of the Formosa plant could desecrate historical graves on the site belonging to formerly enslaved ancestors of St. James residents — a discovery that’s hastening calls to halt the project entirely.

Sharon at the site of the graves. Formosa fenced off the area once the burials were discovered on the site of their project. (Credit: Lauren Packard)

The proposed plastic plant in St. James would be one of the largest petrochemical facilities in the United States. It would take fracked gas and turn it into plastic pellets used to make single-use plastics, exacerbating the growing plastic pollution crisis our communities face.

When Sharon and RISE took up this fight, Formosa was thought to be a done deal in St. James, which rubber-stamped permits from state agencies expected. They are working to change that narrative and stop Formosa.

They have participated in public hearings, organized community educational events and town halls, and marched across the state to the capitol in Baton Rouge. Their “David vs. Goliath” fight has garnered national media attention, and support from former Vice President Al Gore and the Poor People’s Campaign led by Reverend William Barber.

Although the fight against Formosa in Louisiana is an uphill fight, I was so inspired by Diane and Sharon and their shared passion for protecting their communities and for clean air and water. These powerful, dedicated women are at the front lines of an epic fight — two amazing voices speaking out for their neighbors and against corporate greed.

As fierce as they are, they can’t do this alone. There’s a movement building to stop Formosa, and we should all be part of it, no matter where we live.

Join the fight at www.StopFormosa.org.