In his February 2020 letter to the Louisiana newspaper The Advocate, law professor Oliver Houck addresses the recent coverage about Formosa's expansion plans in the area. The quote points out how perception of Formosa shifts from Taiwan to US context:
"One Formosa executive explained, at home it was considered “a polluting industry,” which “stigmatizes them.” Here in Louisiana it is seen as Santa Claus and rewarded by tax exemptions that strip the poorest parts of the state of revenue for roads, schools, hospitals and public safety. What is wrong with this picture?"
Formosa Plants in US, Vietnam and Taiwan are located close to the ocean, posing a threat to marine life and the livelihood of fishermen.
Overview of local citizen initiatives that Formosa Plastics has been involved with in Baton Rouge and Point Comfort.
Towards the end of their interview, Brooking Gatewood asks Diane Wilson about her relationship to Point Comfort as a place. In the conversation before, she mentioned that Diane has 120 years of family history in the area -- and how such deep relations are a precondition for successful activism. Her advice is to follow ones "intuition" and get out into the world, not to "stay in air conditioned spaces" and discuss.
In her interview, Diane Wilson emphasizes that Formosa plant workers have deep knowledge of the company's violations, but have nobody to talk to about it. If they file complaints to the management, they risk being fired. In consequence, Wilson becomes the go-to person for workers to talk to.
In Point Comfort, TX, the aluminum producer Alcoa has polluted the waters of Lavaca Bay with mercury, leading to an EPA superfund site. This visual provides a timeline of the pollution history, an overview of the affected area and the process of biomagnification throughout the food chain. In a 2019 interview, Diane Wilson highlights that the plastic pellets discharged by Formosa have shown to absorb the mercury, producing compounded toxicity.
