FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 3, 2019

Contact:
Erin Gaines, Attorney, TRLA (512) 374-2739;egaines@trla.org
Amy Johnson, Attorney, TRLA (503) 939-2996; amy@savagejohnson.com
Diane Wilson, Plaintiff (361) 218-2353; wilsonalamobay@aol.com
Nancy Nusser, Communications Director, TRLA (410) 934-9588, nnusser@trla.org

Federal Judge Signs Off on Formosa’s Record-Setting Environmental Settlement

$50 Million Settlement Will Be Used to Revitalize Local Waterways and Beaches

VICTORIA, Texas (Dec. 3, 2019) – U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt today approved a $50 million environmental settlement from Formosa Plastics Corp. that will fund six key pollution mitigation projects near its Point Comfort, Texas facility. The agreement is the largest ever settlement of a Clean Water Act suit filed by private individuals. The settlement also requires Formosa to meet a stringent standard known as “zero discharge,” in which the Point Comfort facility must stop all discharge of plastics into natural waterways.

“Having the $50 million settlement go to local environmental projects feels like justice,” said plaintiff and former shrimper Diane Wilson, who is represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA). “Formosa polluted Lavaca Bay and nearby waterways for years. Now it will pay for strong community projects that will improve the health and welfare of our waterways and beaches.”

“That Formosa agreed to zero discharge is pivotol," said Erin Gaines, TRLA attorney who is representing Wilson. "This is a standard that citizens all over the country are fighting to get enforced in their communities. Another key point is that Formosa must clean up illegally discharged plastics. This comprehensive settlement means that the natural resources in the Point Comfort area will not only be protected, they will also be revitalized.”

The $50 million settlement will be paid out over five years into a fund supporting projects that reverse the damage of water pollution in Calhoun County, where the Point Comfort facility is located. Some of those projects include:

• $20 million for creating a cooperative that will revitalize depleted marine ecosystems and develop sustainable fishing, shrimping and oyster harvesting.

• $10 million for environmental development of Green Lake park, the 2ndlargest natural lake in Texas, into an environmentally sound public park.

• $2 million to control erosion and restore beaches at Magnolia Beach.

• $5 million for environmental research of San Antonio and Matagorda bay systems and river deltas that feed into them.

• $1 million to support the “Nurdle Patrols” at the University of Texas’s Marine Science Institute, and to give scholarships to allow persons throughout the Gulf coast to attend Nurdle Patrol conferences. The Nurdle Patrols are volunteer groups that collect plastic pellets, also known as nurdles, in order to document and research plastic pollution of the Gulf and its shores.

• $750,000 to the YMCA for camps for children to study and learn how to be good stewards of the local marine environment.

• $11.25 million for future projects in the areas and to pay the costs of the trust.

None of the $50 million settlement will be awarded to the plaintiffs.

“A settlement of this size and complexity sends a powerful message that polluters will suffer significant consequences for discharging even the tiniest of plastics into our waterways," said Amy Johnson, attorney with TRLA who represented Wilson. “This is an especially important message for our current era – when plastic pollution of our oceans is hitting crisis levels.” TRLA attorney Jennifer Richards also represented Wilson.

The financial settlement is by far the largest for a Clean Water Act suit filed by private individuals. It is five times the previous largest settlement for the same kind of case. (Public Interest Research Group of N.J. v. Witco Chemical Corp., Nos. 89-3146, C-359--83 (D.N.J. Jan. 15, 1993)). The largest Clean Air Act suit brought by private individuals awarded $19.95 million. (Environment Texas & Sierra Club v. ExxonMobil, No. CV H-10-4969, 2017 WL 2331679 (S.D. Tex. Apr. 26, 2017))

The settlement details how and when Formosa will make improvements to its plant to eliminate the discharge of plastic pellets. 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.

“There will be reporting requirements, an independent monitor, site visits, and other accountability requirements,” said Bob Lindsey, a plaintiff and member of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper. “We will have the access and power to make sure that Formosa meets its requirements and fulfills its commitments.”

Wilson and her co-plaintiffs – members of the San Antonio Bay Waterkeepers who are represented by private co-counsels David Bright of Corpus Christi and David Frederick of Austin – spent years collecting samples of the plastic pellets and powders that Formosa discharges. During one four-year-period, they patrolled the waterways on a daily basis, collecting a total of 2,428 samples of pellets and powders, which they stored in zip-lock bags and quart-sized bottles marked with dates, times, and locations. They also took thousands of photos and videos of pellets and powders in the water and along shores.

When their suit went to trial in March 2019, they packed the 2,428 samples into boxes and drove them to the courthouse in downtown Victoria. Once there, they presented them as evidence during the liability phase of the trial. In his ruling for the plaintiffs, Judge Hoyt wrote, “these witnesses provided detailed, credible testimony….” He described Formosa as a “serial offender” and wrote that its violations of the Clean Water Act were “extensive, historical, and repetitive.”

“This case is a shining example of the crucial role that citizen enforcement suits play in seeing that our cornerstone environmental laws, like the Clean Water Act, actually fulfill their purpose of protecting our environment and public health,” said Josh Kratka, senior attorney at the National Environmental Law Center (which was not involved in the case). “The citizen plaintiffs have performed an extraordinary public service with this settlement, ensuring both that Formosa's ongoing, illegal plastic pollution will be brought to an end and that Formosa — not taxpayers — will foot the bill for cleaning up the vast mess the company created in our public waters and shorelines.”

“This is such an important signal to the plastics industry that they can’t pollute waterways and communities with impunity,” said Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The next step is to keep Formosa from treating Louisiana like this and to hold the industry as a whole to a zero plastic discharge requirement to protect other parts of the Gulf and Appalachia that are in the cross-hairs of the plastic production boom.”

Attached are photos of plaintiffs collecting plastic debris that was used as evidence in the trial.

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to about 23,000 low-income Texans in 68 southwestern counties. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and access to justice for low-income Texans by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.