Formosa was founded in 1954 in Taiwan with funding from the US Agency for International Development and is considered integral to the country’s “miracle” of rapid economic development. One reason for that is Formosa’s close ties with the Taiwanese government; during the period of authoritarian rule, industrial development could be carried out without protest. When martial law was uplifted in 1987, citizens began organizing mass environmental protests targeting the expansion of the petrochemical industry. Internal pressure led Formosa Corp to begin building plants in other locations.
Formosa Corp’s first plant in the US was in Baton Rouge, at the top of the 80-mile stretch of the Mississippi River now known as Louisiana’s Cancer Alley. The second site was Point Comfort, Calhoun County. Delegates from the County visited Formosa’s Chairman Wang in Taiwan. He promised to provide 2,700 new jobs and $3.2 billion in investment, a sum “worth more than all of Calhoun County”. The Executive Director of the Calhoun County Economic Development Corporation put the County’s rationale bluntly: "It’s either industry or unemployment [...] once we get our economy stabilized, then we can afford to be a little bit more choosy with who and what we let in."
Formosa Corp has continued to expand in Calhoun County over the years, and there are plans for a $200 million USD expansion in plastics production to “cash in” on cheap U.S. shale gas, a result of the fracking boom since the mid 2000s. The success of environmental organizing to keep Formosa Corp from building a new facility in Louisiana may be bringing more of it to Calhoun County. Locals have learned about accidents and expansions through informal exchanges rather than through official processes. Formosa, they say, has just done what it wanted, seemingly beyond the reach of law.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why did Formosa Corp start searching for other locations? What locations did it settle on and why?
What arguments did leaders from Calhoun County and leaders from Formosa Corp provide for the entry of Formosa Corp in Calhoun County? How do you think they would have substantiated their arguments?
- How could success in environmental activism in one place end up obstructing success in environmental activism in other places?
Snapshot: Formosa "slides in"