EPA reverses course, rejects permit for massive oil exporting project offshore from Corpus Christi

During the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency exempted a proposed oil export terminal off the Texas coast from air pollution requirements. This week it rejected the permit because of pollution concerns.

By Erin Douglas and Mitchell Ferman , Texas Tribune


The Environmental Protection Agency denied a permit this week for an offshore oil export terminal project near Corpus Christi because it would have allowed massive amounts of pollution — reversing course after the agency under the Trump administration had moved the project forward.

It’s a setback for the Bluewater Texas Terminal, which is competing to establish the first large oil export facility off the coast of Texas.

The terminal, which would export up to approximately 384 million barrels of crude oil per year on large tanker ships, would be the biggest oil export facility off the Texas coast and would rival the country’s largest offshore oil export terminal, off the Louisiana coast. The Bluewater project is a partnership between energy companies Phillips 66 and Trafigura.

A Bluewater spokesperson told The Texas Tribune “we are reviewing EPA’s comments.”

Oil produced in Texas would flow 21 nautical miles through an underwater pipeline from Corpus Christi to the terminal. Floating hoses connected to the offshore platform would take the oil from the pipelines and transfer it to tankers.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/02/texas-oil-epa-export-terminal-corpus-christi/