Texas company to pay nearly $3M for Clean Air Act violations

POINT COMFORT, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice says a Texas plastics company has agreed to pay nearly $3 million in civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act. The DOJ says Formosa Plastics Corporation also agreed to improve its risk management program at its petrochemical plant in Point Comfort, Texas. An investigation was launched into Formosa after a series of fires, explosions and accidental releases at the plant along the Texas Gulf Coast. The DOJ says workers suffered burns and inhaled chlorine as a result of those accidents, which happened from 2013 to 2016. Formosa says it’s added a team of health and safety professionals to help ensure similar accidents don’t happen in the future.