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‘CATASTROPHIC’: BIDEN ADMIN APPROVES LARGEST OFFSHORE OIL EXPORT
TERMINAL  
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Julia Conley
April 15, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "Nothing about this project is in alignment with Biden's climate
and environmental justice goals," said one campaigner. _

Supertanker, the AbQaiq (Ultra Large Crude Carrier), U.S. Navy photo
by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Kevin H. Tierney

 

Climate action groups are vehemently rejecting the Biden
administration's claim that the approval of a new offshore oil
terminal—planned to be the largest in the U.S.—is in the "national
interest," after the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the
project had met several federal requirements and could begin
operations by 2027.

The agency's Maritime Administration said
[[link removed]] last
week that Enterprise Product Partners, a Houston-based pipeline
company, had been granted a deepwater port license to build the Sea
Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) near Freeport, Texas following a five-year
federal review process.

The federal government determined the $1.8 billion terminal project
had undergone sufficient environmental impact reviews and would
overall benefit the country—even as it was projected by the Sierra
Club [[link removed]], which has fought
SPOT for several years, to emit greenhouse gases equivalent to those
of nearly 90 coal-fired power plants.

"The evidence is clear that SPOT would be catastrophic to the climate,
wildlife, and frontline communities of the Gulf," said
[[link removed]] Devorah
Ancel, senior attorney with the Sierra Club. "It threatens the future
existence of the endangered Rice's whale with a population of less
than fifty, and its ozone pollution would compromise the health of
thousands of Gulf residents who have endured decades of fossil fuel
industry pollution. Make no mistake, SPOT is not in the national
interest."

The project is expected to include two pipelines that would carry
crude oil to the deepwater port each day, enabling the export of 2
million barrels of crude oil, loaded onto two supertankers at once,
daily.

"Nothing about this project is in alignment with Biden's climate and
environmental justice goals," said 
[[link removed]]Kelsey
Crane, senior policy advocate at Earthworks. "The communities that
will be impacted by SPOT have once again been ignored and will be
forced to live with the threat of more oil spills, explosions, and
pollution. The best way to protect the public and the climate from the
harms of oil is to keep it in the ground."

Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. manager at Oil Change International
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the project has been approved despite the International Energy
Agency's clear assessment in 2021 that "all new investments in oil and
gas projects must stop if the world is going to reach its climate
goals," including limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C.

"The Biden administration's decision to approve the Sea Port Oil
Terminal is a grave mistake. This approval will only harm local
communities and ecosystems, and lead to even more devastating impacts
of the climate crisis," said Rosenbluth. "The U.S. is already the
largest producer of oil and gas and has the largest expansion plans
globally. Instead of continuing this legacy of harm by approving
fossil fuel projects, President Biden should be listening to the
science and the masses of his constituents calling for an end to
fossil fuels."

The direct action group Climate Defiance expressed doubt that the
approval of SPOT will help Biden win over any voters as the 2024
election approaches.

Nine in 10 Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning
independents told 
[[link removed]]Pew
Research Center last year that they believe the U.S. should prioritize
developing renewable energy sources—and two-thirds of Republican
voters under age 30 agreed.

"This project would be the single-largest oil export terminal in the
U.S." said
[[link removed]] the
group. "We are being boiled alive here, literally burned to death by
'moderate' politicians who see fit to torch us in the name of
quarterly profits. How can we live like this? How can this go on?"

Last year was the hottest
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record, and the first three months
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2024 have each broken records
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temperatures. Scientists found last year that climate disasters
including wildfires
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Canada and extreme heat
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Europe were made far more likely by fossil-fueled planetary heating.

Local organizers in Texas condemned the Biden administration's
decision to ignore campaigners who have warned of the danger SPOT
poses to marine habitats as well as people who live in the area where
two crude oil pipelines have now been given final approval to run.

"We continue to struggle to see why Biden and [Transportation
Secretary Pete] Buttigieg
[[link removed]] prefer to protect
the corporate profits of billion-dollar oil giants like Enbridge and
Enterprise over the hardcore objections of the people who would have
to live with the consequences of pipelines criss-crossing our
beaches," said
[[link removed]] Trevor
Carroll, Brazoria County lead organizer with Texas Campaign for the
Environment. "If you care about environmental justice and the climate,
you just can't support a monstrosity like SPOT. The local community
and the global climate justice movement are continuing to fight...
This is not over."

Melanie Oldham, director of Better Brazoria, said
[[link removed]] SPOT
will be "an oil spill waiting to happen that would not only lower
property value, but harm our local ecosystems, ecotourism, beaches,
recreation, and kill marine life like the endangered Rice's whale and
Kemp's Ridley sea turtles."

"Those of us residents, beachgoers, and voters that have for the past
four years opposed the SPOT offshore terminal and pipelines are very
disappointed with the approval of the project license," said Oldham.
"President Biden has again broken promises to protect frontline
communities in Surfside and Freeport."

The administration's approval came three months after the White
House announced 
[[link removed]]it
was delaying consideration of new gas export terminals, and the same
day the federal government said
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fuel companies will have to pay higher royalties in order to drill on
federal lands.

But those climate actions paired with the SPOT approval amount only to
"flip flopping," said 
[[link removed]]Climate
Defiance.

"It is not enough that the administration stopped new gas exports if
they are going to back stab us with this death-sentence decision now,"
said the group. "This is not us being 'ungrateful.' This is the
science. The pure, unvarnished, science."

_Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* big oil
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* offshore profits
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* exports
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* Biden Administration
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