Residents of St. James Parish in Louisiana have something special to be thankful for this year: last month, state judge Trudy White vacated the 15 air permits the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) had approved for a mammoth plastics manufacturing complex planned for a 2,400 acre tract in the town of Welcome, in the notorious 80-mile Mississippi River corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known as “Cancer Alley.” 

The proposed facility would produce polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene glycol and “associated polymers,” materials that are used to make plastic bottles, grocery bags, auto body components, polyester fibers for clothing and other textiles, and chemical products like antifreeze. Dubbed the “Sunshine Project” by the Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group when it was first announced in 2018, the project’s troubled history has included problems with its original water permits under the Clean Water Act. Those permits were put on hold by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2020.   

The decision came as a result of a petition for judicial review filed by a grassroots coalition of local residents working with national environmental organizations. The permits would have allowed the proposed Formosa Plastics campus of 14 separate plants, each permitted individually by the LDEQ, to emit more than 800 tons of toxic pollution each year, including benzene and levels of ethylene oxide, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide that violate federal standards.   

White’s decision in favor of the petitioners shed some sunlight on a litany of errors and omissions in the granting of the permits, such as failing to perform a comprehensive, evidence-based assessment of the environmental, social and economic costs and benefits of the project.  She found that the LDEQ had used faulty emissions modeling, and failed to adequately assess the cumulative effect of emissions from all 14 facilities within the overall project. She also found that the agency failed to allow meaningful public comment and involvement during the permitting process. It also failed to consider the environmental justice concerns of the predominantly African American and low-income community, whose residents already suffer some of the country’s highest levels of cancer-causing industrial pollution according to EPA data, which classifies Welcome as one of the most burdened communities in the U.S. 

White ruled that the agency had failed to conduct any climate analysis of the projected 13.6 million tons of GHG the project was expected to emit each year, an amount comparable to multiple coal-fired power plants, a particularly egregious omission considering the severe climate-related impacts Louisiana is already experiencing. 

Throughout her 34-page ruling, White invoked the public trust doctrine, as enshrined in the constitution of the state of Louisiana: “The natural resources of the state, including air and water, and the healthful, scenic, historic, and esthetic quality of the environment shall be protected, conserved, and replenished insofar as possible and consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the people.” [Article IX, section 1.]  

And in one of the most interesting aspects of the decision, White found that the LDEQ had violated the public trust and its statutory obligation. The agency failed to consider the impact that permitting levels of pollutants that exceed federal standards would have on the clear intentions expressed through the town’s master plan. That plan designates land near the proposed project site to be used for future residential development.

Rooted in ancient Roman law, the concept of public trust holds that certain natural and cultural resources are owned by and preserved for public use, and held by the government in trust. Many states include an iteration of the doctrine in their constitutions, with notable variations in the breadth and depth of interpretation. 

State courts in New York and Pennsylvania have expanded on the original concept. New York recognizes areas of special natural beauty, wilderness character, or geological, ecological or historical significance. Pennsylvania includes protections for clean air, pure water and the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.

In California, the public trust concept has been critical to the restoration of Mono Lake, a 70-square-mile saltwater habitat for some 300 species of migrating birds. It has been brought back from total collapse, thanks to a state supreme court decision limiting the amount of water the City of Los Angeles can divert from the lake’s tributaries.

Judge Trudy White’s eloquent decision shows us that the public trust doctrine is foundational to the right of citizens to hold accountable the agencies whose overarching obligation is to safeguard public safety, health and well-being. This Thanksgiving, I will be celebrating the hard-won victory of the people of Welcome and St. James Parish to protect their community and White’s wise decision.