(Photo Credit: Formosa Plastics)In the largest ever settlement of a Clean Water Act suit brought by private individuals, petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics Corp. has agreed to pay $50 million to fund environmental mitigation in the region around its Point Comfort facility in Calhoun County, Texas.
The company — whose Point Comfort, Texas, plant is said to have discharged billions of plastic pellets into Lavaca Bay and Cox Creek — has also agreed to comply with future “zero discharge” of all plastics and to clean up existing pollution.
The settlement details how and when Formosa will make improvements to its plant to eliminate the discharge of plastic pellets — and plaintiffs will be allowed to review decisions and make objections throughout the process, from the hiring of an engineer to design the improvements, to the monitoring of Formosa to achieve zero discharge. If Formosa is found to be in violation again, it will pay for every documented discharge back into the settlement fund. Payments will start at $10,000 per discharge this year and increase in annual increments to over $54,000 per discharge.
In no other case have private individuals collected as much evidence to prove illegal discharges, according to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, an organization that provides free legal services to low-income Texans. Plaintiffs patrolled the area for four years, picking up samples of pellets and plastic powders and then presenting them as evidence during the trial earlier this year.
The previous largest settlement of a Clean Water Act suit brought by private individuals — Environment Texas & Sierra Club v. ExxonMobil in 2017 — was $19.95 million.
The settlement “sends a powerful message to corporate polluters,” says Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney Erin Gaines, who represents Diane Wilson, a former shrimper and a plaintiff in the suit. Other plaintiffs include members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper.
The settlement, proposed by the plaintiffs and Formosa, must still be approved by US District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt, who already ruled for the plaintiffs after hearing the liability phase of the case.
None of the $50 million settlement will be awarded to the plaintiffs but will instead be paid out over five years into a fund that will support projects that reverse the damage of water pollution in Texas’s Calhoun County.
