News Brief

July 16, 2025

Louisiana groups sue Formosa Plastics for access to slave burial site

Two environmental nonprofits are suing Taiwanese plastics company Formosa, claiming the company is restricting access to a burial site.

Inclusive Louisiana and The Descendants Project filed suit in federal court on July 9, alleging the company is inhibiting community access to a pre-Civil War site that holds the remains of five enslaved people, according to Verite News.

Formosa in 2018 purchased land in St. James Parish, part of a heavily industrialized area long the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley, to build a $9.4 billion plastics facility. Its plans have faced significant backlash from residents citing environmental justice concerns over the proposed facility’s air emissions and Formosa’s poor track record of pollution.

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