Three Gulf Coast Activists Travel to Taiwan to Address Formosa Plastics Shareholders

Three women from the U.S. Gulf Coast traveled to Taiwan in late May to attend Formosa Plastics Corp.'s annual shareholder meeting in Taipei. Diane Wilson, 78, a retired shrimper from Texas, Sharon Lavigne, 76, a retired teacher from Louisiana, and Nancy Bui, 72, a former Vietnamese refugee living in Texas, made the trip. The Environmental Rights Foundation sponsored their travel.

Background on the Activists Wilson has opposed Formosa Plastics operations near her Texas hometown for nearly 40 years. In 2023 she received the Goldman Environmental Prize after securing a $50 million settlement from the company. Lavigne also received the Goldman Prize for opposing a planned Formosa facility in St.

James Parish, Louisiana. Bui's organization is pursuing litigation in Taiwanese courts related to a 2016 industrial incident in Vietnam.

Before the shareholder meeting, the three women visited communities in Yunlin County and other areas more than 400 miles apart. They met residents who described higher cancer rates and changes to local waterways near industrial sites. Wilson spoke with oysterman Lin Chun Lan, who has organized against Formosa Plastics for three decades.

Lin described past threats and the loss of fishing grounds after construction altered water currents.

This was Wilson's fourth trip to Taiwan.

She first visited in 1992 at the invitation of local environmental groups. In 2010 she entered a shareholder meeting and was removed by security. In 2018 she was permitted to speak before being escorted out. The Environmental Rights Foundation said the company now allows speakers rather than removing them to limit media coverage.