Diane Wilson, a 78-year-old retired shrimper from Texas, went to Taipei to challenge Formosa Plastics over pollution she says has damaged Gulf Coast waters and fishing communities in a fight that has spanned decades.<\/p>\n
As Inside Climate News<\/a> reported, the trip took a long-running local fight to the international stage.<\/p>\n What happened?<\/p>\n She was joined by Sharon Lavigne, a Louisiana activist opposing Formosa’s proposed petrochemical project in St. James Parish, and Nancy Bui, whose organization is seeking justice for Vietnamese communities affected by a 2016 Formosa-linked industrial disaster.<\/p>\n The Environmental Rights Foundation arranged the visit to Taiwan, where the women met local residents, shareholders, and representatives of Taiwanese lawmakers and banks.<\/p>\n While there, Wilson also met Lin Chun Lan, a Taiwanese oysterman who has spent decades resisting industrial development that he says has damaged coastal waters and traditional fishing livelihoods.<\/p>\n At Formosa’s annual shareholder meeting, Wilson accused the company of continuing to release plastic into Texas waters despite a landmark 2019 settlement.<\/p>\n “You know how many times Formosa has violated that zero-discharge?” Wilson asked. “Nine hundred and sixty-two times.”<\/p>\n Why does it matter?<\/p>\n In Texas, Wilson said Formosa’s plastic waste has threatened bays and creeks tied to her family’s fishing heritage.<\/p>\n In Louisiana, Lavigne said more petrochemical expansion could worsen health risks in an area already known as Cancer Alley.<\/p>\n In Vietnam, Bui said coastal families are still waiting for fair compensation years after toxic discharges devastated marine life and local jobs.<\/p>\n What are people saying?<\/p>\n “There is a solidarity, not just within this village but in many villages all around the world,” said Annie Huang, an organizer with the Environmental Rights Foundation.<\/p>\n “We are having funerals every month,” Lavigne said. “Our people are dying of cancer.”<\/p>\n “The victims are not asking for charity,” Bui added, “They are asking for justice.”<\/p>\n And Wilson offered this advice for anyone afraid to speak up: “People! Step out, be unreasonable.”<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diane Wilson, a 78-year-old retired shrimper from Texas, went to Taipei to challenge Formosa Plastics over pollution she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[68423,120221,45146,120219,120222,120218,27,29,28,120220],"class_list":["post-336940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-diane-wilson","tag-fishing-communities","tag-formosa-plastics","tag-nancy-bui","tag-petrochemical-project","tag-sharon-lavigne","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-vietnamese-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}