Texas Coastal Coalition

Protecting and promoting the economic and environmental prosperity of the Texas Coastal Bend.

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Interim Objection – Request for Additional Information

EPA Terminates Permit Review Waiver for Harbor Island Desal Plant in Texas

Harbor Island Dredging Project Delayed Again by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

About Us

The Texas Coastal Coalition (TCC) is a non-partisan education and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the economic and environmental prosperity of the Coastal Bend.

Our mission is to educate Texans about the potential environmental and economic impacts of industrial development on Harbor Island in Port Aransas, while bringing together the voices of those who treasure the Texas Gulf Coast to advocate for a solution that works for industry, the environment, and the community.

The TCC believes the development of an offshore oil terminal provides a common sense alternative to the dredging and construction impacts of the Lone Star Ports project, a massive crude oil export terminal designed to load the largest crude oil ships in the world within the city limits of Port Aransas.

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A THREAT TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ECONOMY

The Lone Star Port Plan

The Port of Corpus Christi entered into an agreement with Lone Star Ports, a Berry Group company, to develop a $1 billion crude oil loading terminal on 200 acres on Harbor Island, located within the city limits of Port Aransas. This project threatens the sensitive ecological areas, beaches, fishing, watersports,and quality of life that are so important to our community and economy.

THE COMMON SENSE ALTERNATIVE FOR THE COASTAL BEND

The Offshore Terminal

The Bluewater Texas Terminal (BWTX) project, still in the permitting stage, represents a common sense solution for the Coastal Bend by increasing Corpus Christi’s crude oil export capacity, while alleviating the profound environmental and economic risks associated with developing an on-shore export terminal in Port Aransas. BWTX focuses on environmental stewardship and safe, efficient, and reliable operations, and is the right choice for our community.

Lone Star Port Concerns

Offshore Terminal Benefits

The Negative Impact of the Lone Star Port Project:

Massive Oil Tankers

The Lone Star Ports’ complex would accommodate the loading of two of the largest crude oil tankers in the world –– Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) –– at adjacent berths at the Harbor Island facility within the city limits of Port Aransas.

Unnecessary Dredging

A loaded VLCC is longer than three football fields and would require dredging 12.8 miles of the Corpus Christi ship channel from 54 feet to 80 feet, threatening sensitive ecological habitats while reaching the deepest channel depth of any on-shore crude oil-export facility in the United States.

Environmentally Harmful

Harbor Island is located in the Redfish Bay State Scientific Area (RBSSA), a sensitive environmental area home to numerous birds, fish, oysters, crabs and endangered species protected by the State of Texas. The wildlife populations would be harmed should this dredging and development proceed.

Threat to Tourism Economy

Port Aransas’ economy runs on tourism, which generates $400 million each year for local businesses. A crude oil tanker facility in Port Aransas would negatively impact the jobs and revenue generated by ecotourism, fishing, water sports and vacation rentals -- the lifeblood of the Port Aransas culture and economy.

An Offshore Terminal is the right choice for Port Aransas:

No Massive Tankers

BWTX’s offshore deep water port would allow large crude oil export vessels to be safely loaded offshore via two single point mooring (SPM) buoys, approximately 17 miles from the Port of Corpus Christi. The buoys, connected by underwater pipelines to a terminal near the city of Taft, would be capable of fully loading two VLCC’s without these enormous vessels docking in Port Aransas.

Safer, Proven Technology

Were an oil spill were to occur at an export terminal on Harbor Island, the effects would be disastrous for wildlife habitats, fishing, and Port Aransas as a tourist destination. An offshore terminal would eliminate this risk by allowing export vessels to be loaded using a single point mooring (SPM) system. SPM facilities are proven, reliable, and operating around the globe, including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), located 18 miles off the Louisiana coast.

Increased Oil Capacity

The offshore terminal would almost double the Port’s current export capacity by adding 1.9 million gallons of capacity per day. This negates the need to develop a VLCC terminal on Port Aransas’ Harbor Island and avoids risking the welfare of sea turtle habitats, the Redfish Bay State Scientific Area, fishing, and our tourism-based economy.

No Desalination Plant

According to a Sept. 2018 study by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas General Land Office Aransas Pass is one of five major coastal passes connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Texas coastal bays and estuaries that should be protected. According to the study, the water quality and chemistry within these passes directly influences marine life and the habitats upon which they depend for food and shelter. An offshore terminal would not require a desalination plant, eliminating this risk to the area’s ecology, water quality and fisheries.

No Dredging of the Channel

The offshore terminal would not require the disruptive and environmentally harmful process of dredging the channel. The pipeline used to reach the terminal would be placed utilizing horizontal directional drilling (HDD) construction methods, rather than open cut methods that would be required to reach an inshore terminal, reducing adverse impacts on seagrasses, as well as boating and fishing. As seen by recent tragic events, dredging carries significant risks, and can result in disastrous consequences and loss of life.

Minimal Land Use

The offshore terminal’s operations center on Harbor Island will be low profile and not obstruct views, not make industrial level sounds, or other quality of life nuisances and would occupy an approximate 12 acre area, a far smaller footprint than the Lone Star Port’s proposed 200-acre Harbor Island facility.

Voices of Port Aransas

What people are saying

There has to be more than money - you can't drink money and you can't breathe it … And when you take the last of what we have from us, we are going to be forced to do everything in our power to prevent this from moving forward. This is a disgrace.

Lorna Reilly

Port Aransas resident

“We want 100 percent due diligence, compliance, research, and investigations on what is being looked at for zero impact on our beaches, on our fishing industry, and our ecology...We’re a tourism economy, and we cannot have that impacted.”