"The Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday (Feb. 12) saying the agency failed to turn over records related to a plant proposed in St. James Parish. The environmental organization alleges that the Corps is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act for not releasing the records, which are related to Formosa Plastics Group’s Clean Water Act permit application.

Formosa plans to build a $9.4 billion petrochemical complex on the west bank of St. James Parish that would turn natural gas to polyethylene, polypropylene and other materials used to manufacture plastics. The Center first requested documents in September 2018, according to the lawsuit. They allege that the Corps turned over some of the documents requested, but not all of them. A second request for records filed in December was also not fulfilled, according to the lawsuit.

The Corps was unable to comment on this story because it involves pending litigation, a Corps spokesman said."

Sara Sneath reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune February 12, 2019. [2]