The Formosa Four: On Trial For Protesting Environmental Injustice
Formosa Plastics: Decades Of Destroying Communities
Join us for our
week of action against formosa plastics
Dec. 1-7, 2024
The Stop Formosa Plastics campaign is inviting people ALL OVER THE WORLD to take bold action in solidarity with our fight.
Explore the action toolkit by clicking the button below to find everything you need to get involved! The Stop Formosa Plastics campaign is calling on people from around the globe to join us in taking bold steps to support our fight.
We demand that Formosa Plastics take action on the following:
Cancel the proposed expansion in Point Comfort, Texas, the new plant in Saint James Parish, Louisiana, and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana expansion, considering the will of the local communities living in the Gulf Coast , who cannot tolerate any additional pollution.
Agree to an independent study to ensure no residual pollution remains in the affected areas in Vietnam, and a program to prevent future incidents.
Collaborate with the Vietnamese government for the release of all prisoners who were victims or advocates.
Provide adequate compensation for the victims of the 2016 disaster in Vietnam and complete environmental restoration of the affected areas.
Formosa Plastics Group has a long history of violating environmental laws and destroying communities.
In Point Comfort, Texas, the Formosa Plastics plant was subject to the largest citizen-brought Clean Water Act settlement in U.S. history, and today continues to discharge plastic despite a court-ordered zero plastic discharge mandate, racking up over 600 violations and counting.
In St. James Parish, Louisiana, activists are opposing Formosa’s $12 billion petrochemical complex slated to be built in Cancer Alley.
In Ha Tinh, Vietnam, a steel plant owned by Formosa Plastics Group was responsible for a chemical spill that’s considered the country’s worst environmental disaster. After fishing grounds were destroyed, the victims whose livelihoods were ruined have yet to see compensation. Over twenty Vietnamese activists remain in prison for speaking out on the disaster.
Formosa Protesters Arrested
On August 2nd, 2024, protestors gathered at Formosa’s U.S. headquarters in Livingston, New Jersey during Summer of Heat’s Faith Week, a week of peaceful demonstrations to compel leaders to abandon fossil fuels and invest in a healthier, more equitable world.
During the demonstration in Livingston, Goldman-award winning activist Diane Wilson locked herself to the Formosa HQ’s employee parking gates, and was arrested with other activists who refused to leave the property.
The events were covered by New Jersey Spotlight News, Patch and Plastic News.
Six people were charged with criminal trespassing for blocking the gates and entrances to Formosa’s headquarters. Four of the six arrested, including Wilson, are choosing to head to trial, with the goal of shining a light on Formosa Plastics’ long record of perpetrating environmental injustice.
The Formosa Four
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Diane Wilson
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Paula Rogovin
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Matthew Kennedy
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Robin Schneider
Diane Wilson
Diane is a fourth generation fisherwoman and executive director of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper on the Texas Gulf Coast. She’s a Goldman Environmental Prize Winner who won a landmark case against Formosa Plastics, one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, for the illegal dumping of toxic plastic waste on Texas’ Gulf Coast. The $50 million settlement is the largest award in a citizen suit against an industrial polluter in the history of the US Clean Water Act.
Paula Rogovin
Paula is a resident of Teaneck, NJ and the co-chair of Food and Water Watch, North Jersey Volunteer Team. She taught elementary school in New York City for 44 years, where she and her students initiated an effort to pass a law that bans toxic pesticides in New York City parks. Paula has been deeply involved in efforts to stop gas power plants and other fossil fuel projects in New Jersey. Additionally, she co-founded the Coalition to Ban Unsafe Oil Trains, Don’t Gas the Meadowlands, Educators Against Racism and Apartheid, and the Teaneck Peace and Justice Vigil.
Matthew Kennedy
Matthew is Texas Campaign for the Environment’s Petrochemical Campaign Coordinator, with years of experience in the global climate justice movement. He’s facilitated political education with worker-owned cooperatives and union campaigns from Connecticut to the Gulf Coast. He supported the launch of the Gulf South for a Green New Deal network, and engaged in international negotiating spaces like the UNFCCC and the IPCC.
Robin Schneider
Robin, raised in New Jersey, is an activist who once led the successful effort to stop plans to drill for oil on UCLA’s campus. Since 2000, she’s been the Executive Director of Texas Campaign for the Environment, which helped close a gaping loophole in the Texas Clean Air Act, and pressured Dell and Apple to set up responsible electronics recycling programs. More recently, TCE has been working closely with Gulf Coast communities and others to fight fossil fuel export and petrochemical facilities.
