STATEMENTS: INTIMIDATION TACTICS IN LOUISIANA WON’T SILENCE OPPOSITION TO FORMOSA PLASTICS
40+ advocacy groups express outrage over arrests of Louisiana Bucket Brigade leaders, vow to stop Formosa’s plans to poison the Black community in St. James
Two leaders of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade were charged under Louisiana’s felony “terrorizing” law on June 26,2020 for placing a box filled with Formosa Plastics’ illegally discharged plastic pellets, called “nurdles,” outside a fossil fuel lobbyist’s home as part of a non-violent protest in December of 2019. A coalition of groups from across the country strongly opposes this intimidation tactic and demand the charges be dropped.
Alejandro Davila Fragoso/Earthjustice
The box of nurdles included this note detailing the significance and safe handling of the materials, which were collected from waterways in Lavaca Bay, Texas, outside a Formosa Plastics’ plant as part of a historic Clean Water Act lawsuit that found Formosa Plastics to be a “serial offender” of environmental laws for dumping nurdles into, resulting in a $50 million settlement.
The arrests come as Formosa Plastics plans to begin construction of its proposed Sunshine Project, which — if built — would be one of the largest petrochemical complexes in the United States and double the amount of toxic pollutants already emitted from industrial sources in St. James Parish. The area of St. James Parish that Formosa selected for its behemoth facility is already overburdened with toxic pollution, and its majority Black residents are currently struggling with a COVID-19 death rate five times higher than the national average.
In response to June 26,2020 arrests, more than forty advocacy groups representing millions of people released the following statements in solidarity with the newly formed Alliance to Defend Democracy in Louisiana.
source: Earthjustice
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