EPA rejects permit for offshore oil terminal in Gulf of Mexico

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency yesterday denied a permit for a major offshore oil terminal near Corpus Christi. The proposed Bluewater Terminal is designed to load up ships with 1.9 million barrels of crude oil a day for export. As proposed, the Terminal would be the largest source of volatile organic compounds (which include carcinogens, like benzene) in the country. In 2020, the Trump administration had determined that the proposal of no pollution controls was acceptable.  Environment Texas joined with Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, and other groups to argue that Bluewater needed to reduce pollution by 95%. In their letter to Bluewater, EPA credited our groups with changing its mind on this issue and asked Bluewater to withdraw its application. The company can now refile an application demonstrating compliance with the 95% control requirements or it’s possible they’ll scrap the project altogether.