A new oil export terminal was quietly approved by President Joe Biden’s administration in the week of November 24, to be established on the Texas Gulf Coast. This terminal will be America’s largest piece of infrastructure for oil export, according to Oil Price.
The approval of the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) project, however, does not guarantee that it will be built, as noted by The Texas Tribune.
It was one of four projects first proposed in 2019, Oil Price reported, and if constructed, it would be the first of the four brought to fruition. SPOT and the other projects are meant to decrease transportation costs while making oil loading more efficient.
“It is gratifying to see the Maritime Administration recognize the significant environmental and maritime safety advantages of SPOT compared to current industry practice,” Enterprise Products Partners, the company behind SPOT, told Oil Price.
The terminal will be built in Surfside, which is around 30 miles from Freeport. Oil will be carried to an offshore Enterprise Products Partners regional network facility through a pipeline. Larger tankers will be accommodated at SPOT than at other ports on the Gulf Coast, according to Oil Price.
The approval was first publicized by Earthworks, an environmental nonprofit organization which spoke out against the Biden administration’s decision.
Kelsey Crane, an Earthworks senior policy advocate, shared in a statement, “President Biden cannot lead on combating climate change, protecting public health or advocating for environmental justice while simultaneously allowing fossil fuel companies to lock-in decades of fossil fuel extraction.”
On the other hand, the Maritime Administration wrote about the decision in a 94-page document, stating the project would benefit the national interest.
“The construction and operation of the Port is in the national interest because the Project will benefit employment, economic growth, and U.S. energy infrastructure resilience and security,” the document explains. “The Port will provide a reliable source of crude oil to U.S. allies in the event of market disruption.”
SPOT was backed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last month, Common Dreams shared, and environmental advocates disagreed with the decision.
“This is a signal President Biden is moving us in the wrong direction on addressing environmental injustice and the climate crisis,” Crane told Common Dreams. “You cannot address current and historic environmental injustice if you are advancing new fossil fuel projects that will continue to harm the communities who are forced to live alongside this pollution and have been suffering and dying under industry exploitation.”
Melanie Oldham, the founder of Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Brazoria and a resident of Freeport, also disagreed with the EPA’s approval of the project.
The EPA made its recommendation after a three-year-long federal review, public input process, and environmental impact statement.
SPOT would add around 2 million oil barrels a day in export capacity.
