Port of Corpus Christi Pushes Ahead with Oil Terminal Project, Environment Be Damned
In the middle of the Texas Gulf Coast, among a constellation of barrier islands where thousands of Texans come to fish, boat and play each year, lies one of the state’s most pristine and ecologically diverse aquatic habitats. Freshwater outflows from four major Texas rivers combine with Gulf saltwater to support five species of seagrass. An intricate network of bays and estuaries serves as a nursery for young crabs, shrimp and all manner of fish. The success of the small towns that dot this area — many of which were ravaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 — hinges on good stewardship of these fragile ecosystems.
But a plan proposed by the Port of Corpus Christi, a governmental body that facilitates sea trade at the elbow of the Texas Gulf Coast, could upend this sensitive habitat, environmental advocates say. The agency is aggressively pursuing a $1 billion project that would allow it to fully load massive tankers with crude oil for export. The ambitious effort would be the first of its kind in the United States: an onshore terminal that could fill “very large crude carriers,” some of the largest seafaring vessels in the world, with 2.2 million barrels of oil at a time.
Such an endeavor would require erecting a hulking new oil loading facility on Harbor Island, just a stone’s throw from downtown Port Aransas, along with significantly deepening and widening shipping channels to accommodate the massive vessels. The development, which is projected to reel in $22 million in its first year, comes as record amounts of crude are being pumped from Texas oil fields for buyers overseas. The petroleum industry has complained that a shortage of export infrastructure has bottlenecked production. Now the Port of Corpus Christi, along with private energy companies, is heeding the call to beef up export capacity along the Texas coast.
Rick Tinnin, a longtime Port Aransas resident and activist who is the former director of marine education programs for the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, said the industry “couldn’t have picked a worse place” for the project. The terminal would be constructed at the mouth of the port’s shipping channel, which is also where Gulf currents sweep crab, fish and shrimp larvae northward into bays. Dredging the shipping channels from their current depth of 45 feet to 75 feet will churn up silt and sediment underwater, potentially shading out the seagrass and killing it, Tinnin said.
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/port-of-corpus-christi-pushes-ahead-with-oil-terminal-project-environment-be-damned/
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