Question: Are there examples where environmental concerns were addressed as a result of people filing complaints (or suspected permit violations)?

Here's a recent one from Ronnie Hamrick, and the San Antonio Estuary Waterkeeper on nurdles from the Formosa plant ending up in the waterway. For years community members documented and filed permit violations with the EPA and state agency resulting in fines against the company. Now as a result of legal action and these documented complaints, there's a $50million settlement on this case against the company for their continued bad acting. The Formosa plant has also agreed to a zero pellet discharge moving forward.

• https://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/environment/clock-starts-ticking-in-formosa-lawsuit-settlement-w-video/article_dd2a0bce-36e7-11ea-aa78-17202224c5dc.html
• This one outlines how the residents filed violations for years before the case moved forward https://www.texasobserver.org/nurdle-by-nurdle-citizens-took-on-a-billion-dollar-plastic-company-and-won/ "Most environmental pollution cases are based on already documented pollution, as companies file permit violations with a state agency like TCEQ, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 'This is an instance where citizens collected evidence of violation of the Clean Water Act,' Johnson says, 'and what’s so powerful is that that was used to prove these thousands of violations.'"

The Orangetown group, @CA4O shared their story of community members filing nuisance odors against Aluf Plastics. The company was recently fined $75,000 as a result of these complaints in the Orangetown Justice Court

• https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/12-04-2019/residents-are-fighting-back-against-plastics-odors-in-this-small-ny-town

Here's an example from a mining company in Arizona who used opacity monitoring methods to hold a company accountable for air quality violations:

• https://www.gvnews.com/news/county-notifies-freeport-of-another-violation-related-to-mine-dust/article_3e92ad7e-4202-11ea-9fc8-9306f5e6b551.html
• https://tucson.com/news/arizona_news/pima-county-issues-freeport-another-violation-for-dust-from-mine/article_9d922b29-5991-5bd7-8003-c68d88c398f3.html

After receivingg tens of thousands of complaint letters, the Bayou Bridge Pipeline was modified to avoid 160 acres of wetlands, mostly wetland forest, and about 8 lakes, although many other complaints, filed by Basinkeeper to the Army Corps, have been mostly ignored, although we know the Corps has been forcing them to clean up some of the problems, because they are still out in the Basin constructing the pipeline. The Maurepas Pipeline received over 280 complaints by Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and one major complaint from Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and they were mandated to correct these blockages to the flow of water. HealthyGulf and Basinkeeper complained about illegal logging in Brown Bayou in 2018, and the unmarked logging trucks have not returned. St James Parish residents filed 9 complaints against odors and Mosaic before LDEQ inspected the facility--hopefully leading to fixes.

New Orleans residents complained and protested about the illegal fill of City Park wetlands by the Bayou District Foundation Golf course, and the City Park Improvement Association was ordered to pay mitigation to fund wetland forest restoration in Springfield, LA. Taylor Energy has leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico since 2004, but it took complaints since 2010, from the academic and NGO community, for the USCG to commit to containment in 2019--they have since retrieved over 250,000 gallons of oil from Mississippi Canyon. HealthyGulf threatened to sue the Grand Isle Independent Levee District for the illegal construction of a jetport in a $300 Million bird sanctuary, and the Louisiana Widllife and Fisheries Commission dropped an agreement with GIILD. Grand Isle IID apologized and withdrew the plans.

Louisiana residents, fishers, and oil workers complained about the loss of 400-600 square miles of the Louisiana coastal marshlands. Fishers sued, but the suit was deemed too broad. The Flood Protection Authority of Louisiana sued, and the Governor retaliated against their board. The Parishes have sued, and now Freeport MacMoran is discussing a $100 Million settlement with Louisiana and Plaquemines Parish. Chevron has increased its philanthropic spending, likely to ease these legal pressures, as it is likely liable for billions of dollars of restoration of Louisiana marshlands (based on replacement value).

you know our story on United Bulk Coal Termial.