Inside: 

~Calendar MONEY Sectio 

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Expansion to preven~ another Livingston 

By NAN POWERS 

8t.t.Un.t"H Writtr 

BATON ROUGE - .Formosa l'lostics Corp. can't forget the 

dav in 1982 that a train loaded 

with a toxic liquid it msnufaclures derailed and leaked all over 

the lillie southeast Louisiana 

town of Livingston. 

Abnut 2,700 r>eople were kept 

from their h(lmes for two weeks 

hy explosions, fires, spills end 

chemical smoke. The bill: $17 

million in cleanup costs end $39 

million in lawsuits against IUinois 

Central Gulf Railroad. lnvestigstnrs di!l<:uvered that the engineer 

had been drunk and asleep dur- ing the train trip. 

'We got s lol of bad press even 

though the liability wasn't ours," 

Formosa plant manager Alden 

Andre 1111id. Now. (h'e years later, the compAny hRS decided to ensure that 

it never has another Livingston. 

Formosa will build a plant to 

turn the t.oxic liquid vinyl chloride. a known cancer-causing 

1genl. into polyvinyl chloride, a 

nn rmless white powder. "We realized shipping ha.u~rd

lUS mntcrio.ls wasn't the thing t.o 

ceep doin~." Andre SAid. "We feel ve are rna king a contribution to 

IQCiety." 

The plant will account for $75 

nillion or the $154 million the 

ompany plans to spend at iLs 

35-acre site in Baton Rouge. 

Other proposed improvements 

nclude expanding the chemical !ant '~ capacity, adding a new roduct lo it.q line and giving the 

umpany mare power from iLs 

lectric plant. 

~tpansion will bring jobs 

The expanRi<m is expected to ·eole 65 permanent job~ a.nd 450 

Hlstruction jobs in the Baton 

ouge a reo. The uporJSion plans have 

1rned the porent company's 

1airman. Taiwanese tycoon and 1~ines~mao Y.C. Wang, the out-

.'We realized ship-

. ping hazardous 

materials wasn't the 

thirig to keep doing. · 

We feel we are making a contribution to 

society.' 

Alden Andre 

Fonnosa Plastics manager 

standing Businessman of the 

Year Award from the World 

Trade Center in New Orlesns. 

Formosa Plastics' main purpose is to manufacture the base 

component of polyvinyl chloride 

pipe, the white plastic pipe best 

known for its use in residential 

plumbing systems. 

Fonnosa makes four products: 

chlorine, ethylene dichloride, 

vinyl chloride monemer and 

caustic soda. The first three are 

intermediate products in the 

process that results in the PVC 

resin that is converted into pipe 

at Formosa's plant in Delaware. 

Caustic soda is a byproduct of 

chlorine, used in the aluminum 

and paper industries. 

The increasing popularity of 

the PVC resin and pipe was a big 

factor in the company's expansion plans, Andre said. Demand 

is growing at the rate of 4 percent 

to 5 percent a year. 

Formosa revives. operation 

There also are new uses for the 

rHin end pipe. The state of Cali: 

fornia recently approved the pipe 

for drainage culverts on slate 

highway projects, and the re!lin is 

being used in wallpaper and 

flooring. .Formosa hopes that after the 

expansion. it will capture 17 percent of the U.S. market shore of 

PVC. Today, the company has 10 

Manager Alden Andre sees growth ahead for Formosa Plastics' Baton Rouge plant, now undergoing $154 million expansion. . STAFF PHOTO BY DARlENE P1£RCE 

percent, Andre said. Formosa's plant was built in 1935 

by Allied Chemicals. Allied operated the plant until 1978, when it 

sold the plant t.o Imperial Chemical lndustrie$ Ltd., a . British 

company. 

ICI kept the plant for two 

years. then sold it to Formosa 

Plastics Corp .• a U.S. subsidiary 

or the ~ant T11hyanese firm For- mosa Plestics Group. In 1986. the 

latest year for which ligures are available. the privately held parent company reported $3.7 billion 

in assets. 

ICl sold the plant because of 

substantial losses, Andre said. 

But under Formosa. the plant 

hfts begun to show a profit, and 

for the first time. in 1986, started 

returning profits to the parent 

company. he said. 

A new manor.ement r1hilo~.-.nhv 

that emphasized capital 

improvements made all the difference, said Andre. who has 

been with the plant for 25 years 

and plant mennger since 1982. 

Power plant a crucial a.sset 

Previous owners "just kept il 

going like an old car you don't 

want t.o put money into." he said. 

Formosa poured $40 million 

into th,. nltu~f ..... : .. : ... - _ ... _ ... _: • •• 

And. though a Gulf SLates Utilities Co. power plnnt is next door. 

Formosa spent $13 million on n.n 

electric co-generation plant that 

produces 6() percent or ita power. 

That hAs reduced its reiiance on 

GSU's higher co!t power Md allows it to be cost-competili· 

ve. The power ph1nt cKpension 

w ill nllow the company 
------------------------------------------------------------------t-----~'- -··-••.,;; I 

V.J. 'Pop' Rogers checks his charts in the control room of Formosa Plastics' electrical cogenerationplant. The company's 

expansion plans will double the electrical facility's capacity. : STAFF PHOTo av oAA\.ENe Pf£RCE 

Plastics 

From G-1 

to produce 95 percent of its electricity needs. 

Formosa hopes that after the expansion, it 

will capture 17 percent of the U~S. market 

share of PVC. Today, the company has 10 

percent. 

But, the company has cor- rected many of the problems, and 

will be even better equipped after 

the expansion. Andre said. "The new plant's technology is 

improved, and fugitive emissions 

will be reduced," he said. 

So important is the power 

plant, Andre said, that "If we hadn't done it, we wouldn't be 

sitting here. We would have had 

to shut down." 

The company also cut the 

number of employees from 400 to 

new plant will be able to manufacture 1,250 tons a day. 

from the state Department of 

Environmental Quality. 

The expansion can't begin, 

however, until Formosa gets its 

DEQ permit. A spokesman (or 

the department said the request 

is under review. ';:==: Meanwhi!!, Formosa worries 

about the physical health of its 

employees and the corpc~;;t;; 

he.Q!th of the comp.any. 175. . 

Formosa pians another round 

of spending in the next two years 

that will nearly quadruple what it 

spent in the previous five. 

Formosa will: 

• Build a plant to produce the 

leW product, polyvinyl chloride 

·esin. Formosa will be able to 

nanufacture 1,050 tons a doy. 

· Build a new vinyl chloride 

1anufacturing plant. Current ca- acity is 600 tons per day. The 

>PEC 

1mG-1 

m Mexico "' · I .. • 

.,. Double the capacity of the 

power plant.. 

.,. Spiff up the landscaping, 

which is virtually non-existent. 

The p!ent's new office building is 

surrounded by tall weeds and 

looks abandoned. 

. Leaks an ongoing problem 

The chemical spill in Liv· 

ingston isn't the only problem 

the plant has had. 

There have been several vinyl 

chloride leaks resulting In fines 

The latest was in September 

t987. Formosa wa.s fined $44,500 

and ordered to install a new incinerator to destroy vinyl chloride instead of releasing it. said 

Chris Roberie, DEQ program 

munager for enforcement. 

''I'm nut saying it's a bad com- pany," Roberie said. "All vinyl 

chloride producers are under inteMe scrutiny because of the 

stringent regulations regordintc 

the chemical. Most of them have 

been assessed penalti~s in the la~t two Ul three years." 

The chances of OPEC and independent 

producers reaching agreement any time 

soon rm ;,...:-:-productinr. cu.t ~:: ,. ... .,ear slim 

Each year, the parent company 

hosts its own one-day Olympic 

fest ival in Taipei. Each plant 

sends twu employees. 

Chairman Wang. 70, opens the 

festival by leadin!( a five-kilometer run fnr all the contestants. 

• Thill year. Andre sent mechan· 

ical en~neer Ken Jefferson nnd 

chemical engineer Paul Lanoux. 

They both rinished the race, 

pleasing their fellow employees. 

lessened by the fact that prices, 

adjusted for inflation and the de-

,>reciation nf the U.S. dollar. al 

ready are as lnw as in 198n. 

he nut look for ro ••• • ("lo u •,.l 

l 

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