ST. JAMES - After winning a controversial legal battle over expanding their methanol plant in Saint James Parish, Koch Methanol is hoping to strengthen its ties with the community.  

Under the $150 million dollar expansion plan, Koch's production of methanol will increase by 25%.

Inclusive Louisiana, along with Rise St. James and the Mount Triumph Baptist Church challenged chemical plant expansions in the area, arguing the local government should have never approved it. They say the plants contaminate the air quality in the area and argue their placement is racially motivated. 

"Everyday we breathe the foul air, we drink the water and live on the contaminated land that the industry has poisoned. The fourth and fifth districts of St. James parish bears the burden of pollution and have become a sacrifice zone," Barbara Washington with Inclusive Louisiana said.

23rd Judicial District Judge Cody Martin heard the case in April but just came to his decision to move forward.

Koch said air-quality testing performed during the application period showed expanding the plant's methanol production capacity from 5.4 tons to 6.8 tons per day would not worsen air pollution. However, some residents doubt this claim. 

"What we see over and over again is that they're willing to bend it when it comes to facilities that want to locate here and across the river but when it's in other parts of the parish all bets are off. Challenging this pattern and practice is that it is racial discrimination and it is intentional," Pam Spees with Center for Constitutional Rights said.

Koch Methanol St. James is attempting to 'bridge the gap' between themselves and the parish by hosting an event with their legal team and the Office of Motor Vehicles to help residents maneuver the legalities of restoring and renewing a driver's license.

"We're always looking for ways to partner with the community and we feel like this driver's license restoration clinic is another extension of that and so we believe it's critical to have a valid, up-to-date form of identification in today's society where you need access to services like healthcare, banking and housing and so we can provide some expertise in the legal front to members of the community to help them navigate," Plant Manager Josh Wiggins said.

The decision to host an event like this comes just weeks after their lawsuit win to move forward with expansion. However, Wiggins said it has nothing to do with that.

"It's independent than the expansion and optimization work that we are doing at the facility. It's our drive to try and continue partnership and so we think this is a first of its kind event. It's the first time we'll have OMV on-site with legal members and inviting the community. This is the first of a multiple-year-type event we can start and find a need in the community that we can provide support for," Wiggins said.