VACHERIE, La. (AP) — A China-based company's methanol manufacturing facility planned along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish is being opposed by two environmental groups.
Yuhuang Chemical Inc., a subsidiary of Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd., will make a $1.85 billion capital investment in the project that represents the first major foreign direct investment by a Chinese company in Louisiana. It will provide 350 to 400 permanent jobs.
The Advocate reports the Sierra Club and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network asking the Environmental Protection Agency to stop the project.
They argue the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality wrongly concluded the plant's air emissions were low enough that Yuhuang could avoid a separate permitting process.
The facility is planned for 1,100 acres along the west bank of the Mississippi River.