For our look at dual federalism and civil suits. Maybe also negative externalities.
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A federal judge approved a historic settlement agreement Tuesday between Taiwan-based plastics manufacturer Formosa and a scrappy environmental activist represented by indigent legal services nonprofit Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.
TRLA said the $50 million settlement is the largest in U.S. history involving a private citizen's lawsuit against an industrial polluter under federal clean air and water laws. The money will be poured into a trust over the next five years and used to pay for programs supporting pollution mitigation, habitat restoration, public education and other environmental efforts on the middle Texas Gulf Coast.
Diane Wilson, a retired shrimper and an environmental activist, sued Formosa in July 2017, alleging that its Port Comfort plant had illegally discharged thousands of plastic pellets and other pollutants into Lavaca Bay and other nearby waterways. Environmental group San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, represented by two private attorneys, joined Wilson in the suit.
In its defense, Formosa — which is in the process of expanding the plant — argued that a $121,875 fine against it by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state's environmental regulatory agency, made the lawsuit moot.
But U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt strongly disagreed in a June ruling, calling the company a "serial offender" and saying that "the TCEQ’s findings and assessment merely shows the difficulty or inability of the TCEQ to bring Formosa into compliance with its permit restrictions."
Hoyt approved the $50 million settlement, which the parties announced in October, on Tuesday during a hearing in Victoria.
“Having the $50 million settlement go to local environmental projects feels like justice,” Wilson said in a statement. “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.”
