The Biden administration has quietly approved plans to build a new crude oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas, apparently at odds with the president’s climate agenda.
The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration on Monday approved the application (pdf) for the Enterprise Seaport Oil Terminal, one of four proposed offshore oil export terminals.
According to the application, the port will be located off the coast of Freeport, Texas. It will have a storage capacity of 4.8 million barrels and add 2 million barrels per day to the U.S. oil export capacity.
In its 94-page decision (pdf), the Maritime Administration said it approved the request because the construction and operation of the port are “in the national interest and consistent with other policy goals and objectives.”
“The construction and operation of the port are in the national interest because the project will benefit jobs, economic growth, and the resilience and security of the U.S. energy infrastructure,” the administration wrote. “The port will provide a reliable source of crude oil to U.S. allies in the event of a market disruption and will have minimal impact on the availability and cost of crude oil in the U.S. domestic market.”
The decision states that the project will expand an existing terminal operated by Enterprise Crude Houston located in Houston and create 62 permanent jobs over 30 years. In addition, 1,400 temporary construction jobs will be created as per the filing, with the majority of the workforce recruited from existing job sources in Texas and Louisiana. According to the application.
The Environmental Protection Agency quietly issued its approval (pdf) of the draft in October but stressed that “more emphasis is needed on ensuring that environmental justice and climate change considerations are included in the draft to protect overburdened communities.”
Protests erupted soon after, on the Gulf Coast, the Texas Tribune reported, with climate activists condemning the move and pointing to the fact that President Joe Biden has prioritized issues such as climate change and incentives for clean energy during his tenure. Biden has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.
Ahead of the United Nations climate conference in Egypt this month, the White House said Biden is ready to “announce new initiatives to strengthen American leadership, a clean energy future that harnesses market forces, technological innovation and investments to tackle the climate crisis.”
Greenpeace was quick to take aim at the Biden administration’s decision regarding the new oil terminal, saying the new terminal “will emit more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, polluting the air and water of Brazoria and Harris.” in Texas, also creating serious threats to the health of all who live there.”
“It is utter hypocrisy on the part of President Biden and [Transportation] Secretary Pete Buttigieg to shorten the fuse on the world’s largest carbon bomb by greenlighting more oil export terminals soon after lecturing the world on the ‘rising climate ambition at COP27’, further Independent Global Network campaign.
Approval of the Seaport Oil Terminal would facilitate the long-term safe and efficient loading of large crude oil carriers while reducing oil transportation costs and reducing vessel collision risks, among other issues, according to officials.
In a separate statement, Kelsey Crane, lead policy advocate for Earthworks, a national organization aimed at ending pollution from oil and gas drilling, said: “President Biden cannot lead the fight against change climate change, protecting public health or advocating for environmental justice while enabling fossil fuel companies to secure decades of fossil fuel extraction.”
