
          Louisiana, Third World Dumping Ground
          By GreenpeaceGreenpeace
          Vol. 11, No. 4, 1989, p. 21
          
          Oh, for the good old days, when U.S. environmentalists and their
gangs of regulators were ruining the economy by forcing well-meaning
companies to take their business abroad. Now, according to a report in
Taiwan's China Post, that country's super-rich plastics tycoon, Wang
Yung-Ching, is facing "difficulties raised by increasing labor and
environmental movements." He plans to take his business, Formosa
Plastics, abroad--to Louisiana.
          In March, Formosa Plastics announced plans for a $470 million
plastic firm production facility in Pointe Coupee Parish to
manufacture such consumer staples as imitation leather, swimming pool
liners and raincoats. This is the same Formosa Plastics that has had
"serious groundwater contamination and lots of releases" at a vinyl
chloride plant in Baton Rouge, according to Willie Fontenot, a special
assistant on environmental affairs to Louisiana state attorney
general.
          Formosa Plastics has a checkered history. In 1985, the Delaware
Department of Natural Resources issued an emergency decree revoking
all of the company's permits after tolerating four years of consistent
violations, including 40 separate illegal releases of carcinogenic gas
(10 after a cease-and-desist order was issued) and violations of waste
water permits in 16 out of the preceding 24 months. Louisiana seemed
unconcerned. The company's renewed interest in Pointe Coupee, said one
state developmental official, "symbolizes Formosa's commitment to
Louisiana."
        