Protest Against Formosa Plastics In Livingston Ends With Arrests

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Six environmental activists were arrested and charged with trespassing after attending a recent demonstration against a plastics manufacturing company in Livingston. They have since been released from jail, police say.

Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics employs more than 330 workers at its U.S. corporate headquarters at 9 Peach Tree Hill Road in Livingston. The site is located next to a large wetlands area that provides a flood surge zone for the Passaic River.

Officers with the Livingston Police Department responded to the company’s headquarters at 8:12 a.m. on Friday after getting a call about a large group of protesters at the site. Some of the demonstrators had blocked entrance gates, with one of them chaining her neck to the metal bars in a show of defiance.

Here’s what happened next, police said:

“Upon officers’ arrival, they observed 75 to 100 protestors on the sides of the roadway protesting. A small number of protestors were on the property of Formosa Plastics blocking the entrance/exit gates of the property. Some of those protestors left the property upon officers' requests, but six refused to leave. Those six were placed under arrest and charged with defiant trespassing and released on summons.”

The arrestees included residents of Teaneck; Brooklyn, NYC; Austin, Texas; and Seadrift, Texas, who ranged from 20-years-old to 76-years-old.

Livingston police received assistance from the Essex County Sheriff's Office, Morris County Sheriff's Office, Millburn Police Department, Florham Park Police Department and East Hanover Police Department.

Formosa Plastics has been accused of dumping plastic pellets into waterways in Vietnam, as well as Texas and Louisiana, where it also has facilities. Many of the protesters – including Diane Wilson, came to the demonstration from those two states, NJ Spotlight News reported.

“That is the only way to get attention with Formosa,” she told a reporter. “You have to get right in their face and you got to make it so they don’t forget who you are.

Wilson said Livingston police were “really nice” during the incident, adding that it was “one of the nicer jails I’ve been to.”

The company told employees to work from home on the day of the protest, but did not shut down operations, NJ Spotlight reported.

The non-violent protest was followed by a community rally and press conference at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, an historic Black church in Newark.

Organizers have released a statement about the protest, which can be seen online here.

Patch spoke with one of the arrestees, Paula Rogovin of Teaneck, who explained why she was willing to go to jail for her beliefs:

"Here in New Jersey, environmental activists have been fighting to stop seven fossil fuel projects:gas power plants, a compressor station, LNG export, pipelines, and highway expansion. It's been a tough fight but we've had some victories. It is urgent that we unite with activists around the country and around the world to end the destruction to health and environment from Formosa Plastics in Texas, Louisiana, and Vietnam, and that we stand together for environmental justice."

"I taught young children for 44 years, so when I sat in the holding cell for two hours, I thought about how important it is that we work for a better world for all children," said Rogovin, a retired NYC public school educator who has been active with New Jersey groups such as Don't Gas the Meadowlands and Food & Water Watch.

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According to its website, Formosa Plastics has revenues that top $5 billion. It employs more than 3,000 people across the nation.

Ongoing protests against the company have been taking place in Louisiana and Texas. In 2022, advocacy groups persuaded Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court to cancel 14 air pollution permits granted by the state's Department of Environmental Quality, which would have allowed Formosa Plastics to build the largest plastics plant in the world.

A 2021 report from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), the Center for Biological Diversity, and Earthworks claimed that Formosa Plastics Group’s six-decade track record is “riddled with environmental, health, safety and labor violations, including devastating accidents and persistent pollution in multiple countries.”

“From Point Comfort, Texas, to Ha Tinh, Vietnam; Illiopolis, Illinois; and Yunlin County, Taiwan, the Formosa Plastics Group has left a global track record that demonstrates how the rights and safety of local communities and workers, as well as the environment and public health, have become casualties of corporate profit,” the report alleged.

That year, Formosa Plastics agreed to pay $2.85 million in civil penalties and to improve its risk management program to resolve alleged violations of the Chemical Accident Prevention Provisions of the Clean Air Act at its petrochemical manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas.

Formosa Plastics says that “improved efficiency” has allowed it to reduce emissions by 50 percent over 10 years.

“Formosa seeks to reduce the impact of our operations by constantly improving and reducing water use, energy, emissions and waste,” the company’s website states. “Goals are set every year and all facilities track their progress in detail. Independent organizations like BSI audit our facilities to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard every six months and conduct a full recertification every two years.”

The solar power project at Formosa Plastics headquarters in Livingston has produced more than 4.60GWh of power to date, according to the company’s website.

“Beyond 2022, Formosa Plastics Corporation, U.S.A. has plans across our facilities to convert over 100 vehicles to EV/hybrid, and provide more than 100 charging stations,” the company says.

Electric vehicle charging stations are already available for use by associates at the headquarters in Livingston, the company adds.

These assurances aren't comforting to advocates like Rogovin, however.

"Adding electric vehicles and solar power is nice, but the these don’t begin to address the more than 600 violations which impact the health of workers and area residents in what is called the 'sacrifice zone,'" she charged.

Patch reached out to Formosa Plastics seeking comment about the Aug. 2 protest, but didn't get a reply prior to the publication of this article. Read their response in this updated article.

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