$1 billion petrochemical plant in Geismar appears to be moving forward

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The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is on track to approve an air pollution permit for a $1 billion petrochemical plant in Geismar, which would be the world’s largest plastics plant of its kind.

Mitsubishi Chemical Co. plans to build a $1 billion facility on a 77-acre site in Geismar that’s capable of producing 385,000 tons annually of methyl methacrylate (MMA), a chemical used in a variety of paints, adhesives, building panels and other acrylic polymers.

The company is asking LDEQ for a permit that would allow the plant to emit hundreds of tons of toxic gasses, as well as nearly 781,000 tons of greenhouse gas per year. It would rank the plant among the state’s top 50 pollution emitters, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Pamela Ambeau, who lives in Ascension Parish and helps run the local environmental group Rural Roots Louisiana, said the Mitsubishi facility would add air pollution to an area already overloaded with petrochemical plant emissions.

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