Ashley Gaignard has watched chemical plants sprout up in Ascension Parish. The Donaldsonville resident started her own community group to oppose what she views as “industrial intrusion.”
“We were once known as a very rural area, and now everything is almost trying to get rezoned,” Gaignard said.
Much of the once-open land is now developed, but 67 acres will be spared for now after the Tokyo-based chemical company canceled plans for a $1.3 billion methyl methacrylate complex in Geismar. Methyl methacrylate, or MMA, is a substance used to make acrylics, paints, glazes, bath fixtures and other products.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation had considered building the plant as early as 2016, but ultimately abandoned plans earlier this month after finding that demand wasn’t high enough to warrant the construction of a new plant. The plant would have been the largest in the world.
The news was music to Gaignard’s ears and marked what feels like one of her first victories as an environmental justice advocate.
“I was just elated,” she said.
Late last year, Gaignard traveled to the company’s Houston office to give a presentation on the economic risks of building the plant. A report released in August 2024 by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found that the MMA market was saturated with little growth expected. She told the company’s staff that moving forward with the plant would be a risky investment.
“To be able to function and have this thing run safely in the neighborhood, it was going to be a loss,” said Gaignard.
The company ultimately agreed. In the announcement, Mitsubishi Chemical told investors that it had failed to secure long-term contracts with buyers of the product and would be able to meet additional demand with its other plants.
Though she’s concerned about pollution, Gaignard says she hopes this strategy – focusing on the money – will help keep more plants out of her community.
Gaignard was part of a chorus of environmental justice advocates who celebrated the project’s cancelation.
“Mitsubishi’s retreat from Geismar is a testament to the power of community advocacy and grassroots organizing,” said Heather McTeer Toney, executive director of Beyond Petrochemicals and a former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. “Together our partners have worked tirelessly to expose the flawed economics behind this project and the potential harm it would bring to surrounding communities.”
Beyond Petrochemicals is a campaign funded by Mike Bloomberg that aims to halt the expansion of the petrochemical industry, especially on the Gulf Coast and in the Ohio River Valley. The campaign funded the July IEEFA report.
The project had been touted by then-Gov. John Bel Edwards as a way to further grow Ascension Parish’s economic base, promising an economic incentive package and participation in the state’s industrial tax exemption program. The parish is already home to one of the highest concentrations of industry in the region.