EAST BATON ROUGE – Prosecutors have dropped charges against two Louisiana environmentalists who were accused last year of “terrorizing” after they placed a sealed container of plastic pellets on the porch of a chemical industry lobbyist.
The pellets, called nurdles, came from evidence collected during environmental litigation in Texas against Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics, which incurred a $50 million fine for federal Clean Air Act violations stemming from the dumping of such industrial pellets in Levaca Bay, according to the Louisiana Budget Brigade.
Anne Rolfes, the brigade’s director, was one of the two environmentalists charged with felonies over the incident. Rolfes wanted Louisiana chemical industry lobbyists and executives to understand Formosa Plastics’ record in Texas because the company has been moving forward on its plans for a $9.4 billion manufacturing plant in St. James Parish.
“We felt it was really, really important for the state to pay attention to what was happening next door,” Rolfes told the Louisiana Record, adding that the pellets were left with a note about the dumping activities in Texas.
According to Rolfes, the chemical industry tried to stifle the environmentalists' free speech.
“After we had won some victories in St. James Parish against the big chemical project is when the chemical industry executive pressured police to implement the warrant,” she said.
The charges against Rolfes and McIntosh carried sentences of up to 15 years and a fine of $15,000, according to the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.
Rolfes said she and McIntosh are not planning civil litigation over their arrests in June. The incident led to a barrage of media stories about the arrests and Formosa’s plans for its Louisiana facility, she said.
“We feel like they (industry officials) got the message by the press coverage of it,” Rolfes said. “This was clearly an action that was taken in retribution to intimidate us. … I feel like that taught them a lesson not to bully or intimidate us.”
The incident, as well as other actions taken against community leaders, led free speech advocates in Louisiana to form a new coalition, Alliance to Defend Democracy, last June, according to the Bucket Brigade.
FG LA LLC, a member of Formosa Plastics Group, projects that the plastics complex planned for St. James Parish will will produce 1,200 direct jobs that on average pay more than $84,500 annually plus benefits.