Environmentalists protest feds’ OK of Texas oil project
WASHINGTON — In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil-export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States.
The Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed off Freeport will be able to load two supertankers at once, with an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil a day. The $1.8 billion project by Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners received a deepwater port license this week from the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, the final step in a five-year federal review.
Environmentalists denounced the license approval, saying it contradicted President Joe Biden’s climate agenda and would lead to “disastrous” planetwarming greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to nearly 90 coal-fired power plants. The action could jeopardize Biden’s support from environmental allies and young voters already disenchanted by the Democratic administration’s approval last year of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska.
“Nothing about this project is in alignment with President Biden’s climate and environmental justice goals,’’ said Kelsey Crane, senior policy advocate at Earthworks, an environmental group that has long opposed the export terminal.
“The communities that will be impacted by (the oil terminal) have once again been ignored and will be forced to live with the threat of more oil spills, explosions and pollution. The best way to protect the public and the climate from the harms of oil is to keep it in the ground,” Crane added.
In a statement after the license was approved, the Maritime Administration said the project meets a number of congressionally mandated requirements, including extensive environmental reviews and a federal determination that the port’s operation is in the national interest.
“While the Biden-Harris administration is accelerating America’s transition to a clean energy future, action is also being taken to manage the transition in the near term,’’ said the agency, known as MARAD.
The administration’s multiyear review included consultation with at least 20 federal, state and local agencies, MARAD said.
“Although the (greenhouse gas) emissions associated with the upstream production and downstream end use of the crude oil to be exported from the project may represent a significant amount of GHG emissions, these emissions largely already occur as part of the U.S. crude oil supply chain,’’ the agency said in an email to The Associated Press. “Therefore, the project itself is likely to have minimal effect on the current GHG emissions associated with the overall U.S. crude oil supply chain.’’
The project will include two pipelines to carry crude from shore to the deepwater port, reducing the need for ship-to-ship transfers of oil. The terminal is expected to begin operations by 2027.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, hailed the license approval as “a major victory for Texas’ energy industry.”