In April 2024, Formosa Plastics Corp. USA was among 137 companies to receive the 2023 Pinnacle Award by the Union Pacific Railroad for "safe shipping of hazardous materials". The transport company honors cusotmers that "release prevention protocols, corrective action plans and have zero non-accident releases of regulated hazardous materials shipments".
Meanwhile, journalists at the Intercept have followed how in the aftermath of the East Palestine train disaster, lobbyists have both weakened rail safety (Thakker 2023) and supported the buildout of toxic polyvinylchloride (PVC) production (Mitchell 2023, 2024). The latter includes Formosa Plastics planned expansions in Louisiana's St. James Parish.
In November 2023, Taiwan Public Television (PTS) reported that a whistleblower at Formosa Plastics' Sixth Naptha Cracker informed a local legislator about the forging of certificates of fire safety of petrochemical equipment: https://news.pts.org.tw/article/668279
Slides 37-55 outline FPG's current carbon capture system in Kaoshiung and its future plans for CCS systems in Mailiao, including an experimental system of biodegradable carbon capture. These initiatives, largely through Formosa Smart Energy Corp. also attempt to use AI models to regulate carbon capture for optimal production.
See slides 40-42 for new initiatives on carbon capture. They list plans to build deep water carbon capture pits, being sited in Yunlin as of 9.2022.
The carbon capture system they have in place at Nanya seems to have reduced the amount of naptha necessary to manufacture butyl ether, a chemical used in solvents and pesticides, through reinjection of that carbon dioxide into source feedstocks (Enhanced Oil Recovery).
“國際碳捕捉技術發展
依據全球碳捕捉與封存研究所(Global CCS Institute, CCSI)最新發布之「2022年全球碳捕捉與
封存發展現況報告(The Global Status Of CCS 2022)」，⾄2022年全球共有30個⼤型CCS綜合
專案已經營運，其中有22個採⾏強制採油技術(Enhanced oil recovery, EOR)，利⽤⼆氧化碳灌
注⾄快枯竭的油氣⽥，獲取更多殘存油氣，以增加效益，其餘8個專案封存於陸地或海洋深層
鹽⽔層，顯示現階段應⽤仍以EOR技術為主，除可減少碳排外，更可增加獲利。
自動翻譯
Capture Technology Development
According to the "2022 Global Carbon Capture and Storage Storage Development Status Report“ (The Global Status Of CCS 2022), by 2022 there will be 30 large CCS comprehensive
The projects are already in operation, and 22 of them adopt enhanced oil recovery (EOR), using carbon dioxide irrigation. Inject into the depleted oil and gas to obtain more residual oil and gas to increase efficiency, and the remaining 8 projects are sealed in land or deep ocean
The salt water layer shows that the current application is still dominated by EOR technology, which can not only reduce carbon emissions, but also increase profits.” (Slide 38)
Heavy reliance on technosolutions to reach emission reduction and climate goals. Shift from oil as fuel to oil as material. Cooperation between industry, academic, and technical research organizations to research new carbon capture systems. Longevity of the petrochemical industry within climate politics is a high priority for FPG, but also the efficiency of petrochemical inputs. Climate change action is being pursued, but more so in capture of carbon emitted and repurposed within chemical reactions, as opposed to omitted through reductions in production
Taihsi residents have more recently begun to organize a community-led solar power initiative. As Lai (2021, 667) argues, scholarship on community energy projects tends to overlook the importance of place relations, either by exclusively on quantification of energy, or explaining implementation processes by relying on an abstract ideal of civil society. The Taihsi campaign, in turn, shows that local geo-histories – from colonial relations to Formosa’s ‘good neighbor’ policies – are integral to understanding the unfolding of energy transition in the village. The introduction of community energy provided the community with a new framing and articulations of a vision for just transition (Lai 2021, 679). From the local perspective, the community energy initiative appeared as a form of compensation for systemic neglect and a way to gain independence from energy systems that are deeply entangled with petrochemicals. However, Lai (2021, 681) emphasizes that this new self-understanding was often at odds with the goals of Taipei-based NGOs and policy makers, ranging from the community energy initiative’s governance models, the use of revenue, as well as local class and economic barriers.