³Õ´¡°ä±á·¡¸é±õ·¡Ìý— Citing expected out-of-state workers, flooding, air pollution and sizable state tax exemptions, an advocacy group on Wednesday appealed a St. James Parish land use decision that would help clear the way for a $9.4 billion chemical plant proposed by Taiwanese industrial giant Formosa Petrochemical Corp.
Filed Wednesday a day before a 30-day deadline, the citizen appeal means the St. James Parish Council must consider Formosa's request before the project, known as FG LA, can proceed.Â
"We have lived in St. James for generations, and FG LA threatens to force us out for many reasons, including the sheer volume of pollution," Sharon Lavigne, director of RISE St. James LLC, wrote in a four-page appeal letter. "We will not be able to enjoy our property — no more gardens or picnics or barbecues. These activities are already limited by the ongoing pollution."
The St. James Parish Planning Commission accepted Formosa's plan, 7-2, on Oct. 30. Though the 2,400 acres Formosa is eyeing already has an industrial designation from St. James, the parish land use plan requires larger residential and commercial developments and major facilities to get additional commission review.
Parish President Timmy Roussel, who informed the Parish Council about the appeal Wednesday night, said a date has not been set yet for a council meeting or meetings on the appeal, but the parish's attorneys were being contacted.Â
Janile Parks, FG LA's spokeswoman, said the company had just received the appeal and is reviewing it.
"It is not unexpected that the environmental activists would appeal the land use application," Parks said in an email Wednesday. "We will be glad to go through the process and do whatever we need to do to make sure this important project moves forward for St. James Parish and the state of Louisiana."
In addition to the land use approval, the plant also needs other key state and federal permits before work can proceed.Â
The huge plant, which has the backing of Gov. John Bel Edwards, Roussel and the parish school system, promises 1,200 permanent jobs and 8,000 construction jobs over the project's 12-year building schedule. Average annual pay for the permanent jobs would be $84,500, the FG LA LLC website says.
Formosa is trying to locate in St. James Parish as some residents have begun to question the level of industrialization coming to the west bank and the parish generally. Local economic development officials say the parish's access to the river and its large tracts of land make St. James an attractive area for major industrial facilities.
Earlier this month, Wanhua, a Chinese chemical firm, announced it would be going forward with a $1.25 billion chemical complex in the east bank community of Convent.
Yuhuang Chemical, another Chinese chemical firm, is already constructing a $1.85 billion methanol facility in western St. James north of Vacherie. Â
Yuhuang, Formosa, Wanhua and a fourth proposed plant, South Louisiana Methanol, would result in $13.8 billion in capital investment combined in St. James and more than 2,000 permanent jobs, according to a parish economic development presentation. Â
The Formosa plant is proposed along the Mississippi River only a few miles south of the Sunshine Bridge and a bit more than a mile north of the historic, majority black communities of St. James and Welcome.
The appeal letter zeros on this fact, noting the pollution impact the complex would bring to St. James' 5th District. In the west bank's northern corner, the district has the parish's highest percentage of black residents, the appeal notes.
"The burden of industry and pollution is very clearly falling on the black community. This is a clear civil rights violation as well as a public-relations nightmare for the parish," the letter says, noting a petition with 537 signatures was submitted the night of the commission vote. Â
From current pollution levels, the letter claims, residents already have skin rashes, difficulty breathing, cancer, eye irritation and an inability to grow gardens, while young people are moving away to escape the industrialization.Â
Among the land use questions under appeal are Formosa's public benefits, whether those benefits are commensurate with the physical and environmental impacts from the project and whether the project's impacts are "substantially different" from the impacts of other allowed uses in the area.Â
The letter notes the plant would receive $1.5 billion in tax credits, fill in wetlands and cane fields that absorb floodwater, worsen pollution, and add millions of pounds of greenhouse gases into the air, potentially affecting global climate change. Â
The Planning Commission had found the public benefits from FG LA outweighed the impacts. Formosa has said its plant will meet all state and federal environmental standards while the company has agreed to provide grants for area schools and parks.
