A tougher review of the environmental impacts of a proposed plastics plant along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish will likely take more than two years and environmental groups are cheering the additional scrutiny of the environmental damage the plant would do to an area they say already bears a heavy burden of pollution.
But some local government and business leaders are trying to rally support for a project that could create about 1,200 permanent jobs and pour millions of dollars into the local economy.
The Corps had already approved permits for the Sunshine Project, a $9.4 billion plastics plant that Formosa has been trying to build for three years, but it rescinded them a year ago.
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit claiming the environmental study was inadequate, and the Corps acknowledged errors.
