“HOUSTON (ICIS)–An appeals court in Louisiana reversed a decision that voided 15 permits that Formosa Plastics Group needed to build a massive $9.4bn petrochemical complex in the state.
🔹The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal reinstated the permits for the proposed Sunshine project that the company wants to build in St James Parish.
The first phase would include a 1.2m tonne/year ethane cracker, a 400,000 tonne/year linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit, a 400,000 tonnes/year high density PE (HDPE) unit, an 800,000 tonne/year ethylene glycol (EG) plant, a 600,000 tonne/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit and a 600,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant.
The second phase of the project would include a 1.2m tonnes/year ethane cracker, a 400,000 tonne/year HDPE plant, a 400,000 tonne/year LLDPE plant and an 800,000 tonne/year EG plant.
The Formosa subsidiary developing the project, FG LA LLC, welcomed on Tuesday the ruling.
Earthjustice, which represented the groups that challenged the permits, said it was disappointed in the ruling.
🔹It noted that Formosa Plastics cannot begin construction without a wetlands permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers. Such a permit requires an environmental impact statement and could be a years long process.
BACKGROUND
The ruling that voided the permits was made in September 2022 by the 19th Judicial District Court, parish of East Baton Rouge in Louisiana state court.
The district court was requested to review the decision to issue the permits by Rise St James, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, Earthworks and No Waste Louisiana.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality appealed the ruling from the district court. FG LA intervened in the appeal.”
Source: ICIS
