lone star ports vlcc terminal

On May 30, 2019 DiSorbo Consulting on behalf of Lone Star Ports, LLC filed a New Source Review Permit Application with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) “to construct and operate a marine terminal on Harbor Island near Port Aransas, Nueces County, Texas. The Harbor Island Marine Terminal will receive and load crude oil and/or crude oil condensates onto ocean going ships/barges and inland barges.”

This is the same project that the Port of Corpus Christi Authority (POCCA) has long proposed and that we have long opposed. Lone Star Ports is a Carlyle company and Carlyle is working with the Berry Company to build a VLCC terminal on Harbor Island. Lone Star requires a permit from TCEQ to go forward. If you have a problem with their plans and if you’re concerned about possible air pollution from a nearby oil terminal, this is your chance to object.

Lone Star Ports acknowledges in their application that the proposed project would emit numerous air pollutants including sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide. You can read the list of pollutants and the levels that TCEQ proposes to allow HERE.

They claim that the limits of these substances are conveniently just below the threshold that would trigger more stringent EPA restrictions. However our experts are not in a position to evaluate those claims since Lone Star Ports has marked the appendices that show their calculations and measurements "Contains Confidential Information,” omitting them online. We have filed a Public Information Act (PIA) request for the missing data in order to determine whether emission sources have been identified correctly; the emissions are indeed at the levels claimed; correct emission and control factors have been used; and best Available Control Technology will be applied. You can read their application in the Downloads section below.