In June 2022, Formosa Plastics announced the construction of a new $207 million plant in Calhoun County, focused on the production of high-density polyethylene (IFAI 2022). The company also received a 10-year tax abatement from the Port of Calhoun. The announcement of the plant came as a surprise to many observers and activists. Bits of information could be found on Oil & Gas Watch, a website that tracks recent developments concering the plant, from demographic data to estimates of toxic emissions. This a data need of activists: followign the proposal and permitting of a new Formosa plants and expansions. Together with Kim Fortun, I decided to develop a set of analytic questions that would help characterize industrial operations. Through these conversations, I also realized that the questions complement our group’s analysis of more regional, cumulative forms of environmental injustice. Further, the questions were another attempt to learn from and build on the data practices that I was encountering in the field.
Tim Schütz, "Fieldnote Jun 16 2022 - 3:00pm", contributed by Tim Schütz, Project: Formosa Plastics Global Archive, Disaster STS Network, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 15 April 2024, accessed 28 November 2024. http://465538.bc062.asia/content/fieldnote-jun-16-2022-300pm