Shintech: Proposed Plastics Plant Looks Elsewhere

In the face of protests and complaints of environmental racism, the Shintech Corporation of Japan has announced it won’t build a plastics plant in Convent, Louisiana. The company says it will try its luck in another Louisiana town, Plaquemine, about 40 miles away. Shintech wanted to locate its new polyvinyl chloride plant in Convent, a low-income community which houses ten other chemical plants already. The town is 80 percent African- American. Production of polyvinyl chloride releases dioxin, a deadly toxin. Colin Crawford is an environmental law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. While he calls the Shintech decision a victory for environmental justice, he says it’s not the end of the story.