Ingleside City Council denies Enbridge ammonia production facility permit during lengthy meeting

As Enbridge plans for the future of its Ingleside energy center and oil terminal, some Ingleside and Coastal Bend residents have expressed concerns about more industrial growth in the area.

In particular, the company faced opposition to its plans for an ammonia production and export facility at an Ingleside City Council meeting Tuesday, as well as at a Jan. 11 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality public hearing related to Enbridge’s air quality permit renewal.

The City Council rejected Enbridge's ammonia production facility permit during a four-hour-long meeting that drew speakers from around the region, most of them opposed to the ammonia facility.

Ingleside denies ammonia production facility permit

In November, Enbridge applied jointly with Yara Clean Ammonia for an “objectionable use” permit from the city of Ingleside, a step necessary for its plans for a blue ammonia production and export facility. The city council rejected that permit Tuesday.

The Ingleside Clean Ammonia Partners facility would have processed natural gas feed stock through autothermal reforming technology, creating ammonia. Captured carbon dioxide would be further processed and sent through a pipeline for sequestration or geological injection at a third-party facility located somewhere outside of San Patricio County.

The city council meeting lasted more than four hours, with local residents packing the Humble Station Community Center. The only item on the agenda was the objectionable use application for the ammonia production and export facility.

Representatives of the project, dubbed Project YaREN, spoke, touting the project's safety. But more than 45 attendees, primarily residents of Ingleside and Ingleside on the Bay, spoke in opposition to the project, expressing concerns about the property’s proximity to Ingleside Primary School, potential environmental impacts and health and safety concerns, particularly in the case of an emergency or leak.

Among the attendees expressing concerns were members of Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association and Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend. Other speakers identified themselves as longtime residents and parents and grandparents of children in the community. San Patricio County Commissioner Howard Gillespie also shared concerns.

Only a handful of attendees spoke in favor of the ammonia project, including representatives for the Texas Oil & Gas Association, the Coastal Bend Industry Association and other local employers that work with Enbridge.

“We’re striving to diversify our economy,” Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation CEO Mike Culbertson said during the meeting. “We all remember the oil bust of the 80s and the closing of Naval Station Ingleside. In the past 10 years, we’ve seen opportunities for growth in our area that have never been seen before.”

But as countless attendees and members of the city council said Tuesday, many still had unanswered questions about the project, emergency and disaster preparedness and Enbridge’s intentions. Attendees and council members also had questions and concerns about a potential carbon capture pipeline.

John Bell, a legal advisor and member of the Project YaREN presentation team, said during the Tuesday meeting that because of the community concerns, it would not be a "smart move" to approve or deny the permit at that time. The team called for the issue to be tabled.

“The reality is, because of approvals by the city council in 2012 and 2013, this project could be built anyway,” Bell said during the meeting. "That's not the preference of Enbridge and Yara. The preference is to build it in this configuration, in this way, with the dialogue with the city council in a way that works together with you."

Bell said during the meeting that the city could work with the companies to determine conditions that might ease concerns.

"And I'm sure if you stop and think about it in the next week, you can think of a lot of things that could go on that acreage, that 100 acres, that is currently permitted by industrial zoning that you wouldn't have any say-so at all," Bell said during the meeting. "It could be a whole lot worse."

Many members of the audience who spoke during public comment and City Council Member Steve Diehl said that they understood these statements as threatening, though Bell said that was not "at all" his intention.

Upon further questioning from Diehl, company representatives repeatedly indicated that the 2012 city council decisions might allow for the current ammonia project.

In 2012, before Enbridge owned the property, the Ingleside City Council rezoned the property from a residential district to an industrial district after the property was purchased by Oxy Ingleside Property Holdings, allowing for "cumulative" objectionable uses – a measure sought to allow liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas and crude and condensate oil storage projects.

Ammonia production was not discussed at the time.

Diehl did not agree that the objectionable use permit approved 10 years ago would allow for an ammonia production facility now, asking whether the company also believes it should be allowed to add a “dead animal storage”, another objectionable use not discussed previously, as a result of the 2012 ordinance. Using the comparison, Diehl characterized the team’s argument as “legal maneuvering.”

Upon being asked directly by Diehl, City Manager Brenton Lewis stated that the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center is “not the most beneficial” location for an ammonia facility due to winds.

Citing the input of community members and a lack of transparency, the council voted unanimously to deny the objectionable use permit for an ammonia production and export facility.

Speaking several days after the meeting, Lewis said that the city's next steps will be determined by the next steps of the Enbridge partnership. Lewis stressed that the city is "pro-industry" despite disagreements related to the proposed ammonia project.

Additionally, to go forward, the companies would need to apply for and receive a building permit from the city to build in Ingleside.

“We value the input from the community during this week’s city council meeting," Enbridge representative Michael Barnes said in an email Friday. "We will work to address their concerns as we assess and decide how to proceed with this project."

Other permits and plans for Enbridge in Ingleside

Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company, purchased Ingleside’s crude export terminal in 2021 from Moda Midstream Operating. Since then, Enbridge has proposed projects that would expand crude oil storage capacity at the terminal.

The Enbridge facilities are located near other industrial operations, including Flint Hills Resources and Buckeye Partners. Though within Ingleside, the property borders Ingleside on the Bay.

There are currently several pending permits related to activities at the Enbridge property. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is considering renewal of the terminal’s current air quality permit.

The commission held a public hearing at the Portland Community Center last week. About 40 people signed up to comment, all in opposition to the air quality permit. Many commenters were members of Ingleside on the Bay and Ingleside residents, with others hailing from Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

A recurring theme at both the TCEQ hearing and the recent Ingleside City Council meeting was concern about the safety of industrial facilities beyond Enbridge. Last week, Flint Hills Resources reported a crude oil leak on Jan. 6 in Ingleside. The week before, a spill in Victoria resulted in a far-reaching smell that swept the Coastal Bend. Neither of these incidents involved Enbridge.

The Coastal Bend Sierra Club opposes the permit due to concern about environmental threats, including residents' health, group president Jim Klein said during the public hearing, kicking off about two hours of public comment. Klein is also a member of the Corpus Christi City Council.

Klein and numerous other commenters also brought up concerns about the TCEQ, noting that companies including Enbridge have been allowed to characterize facilities on the same property as separate, allowing them to receive permits with less stringent pollution standards.

The TCEQ agreed to consider the Enbridge Ingleside LPG Terminal and the Enbridge Ingleside Oil Terminal as separate sites in 2022, according to recent reporting from Inside Climate News and the Texas Tribune.

Commenters called for air monitoring and more oversight. Public comments submitted in writing and given during the hearing can be found online.

Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend, the Karankawa Kadla Tribe of the Texas Gulf Coast and Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association also filed a lawsuit in 2021 challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval a water permit necessary for expansion of the terminal. The groups are concerned with the cultural significance and Indigenous history of the area, as well as protecting seagrass.

The company had also previously discussed a potential solar operation at the Ingleside site, asking Ingleside ISD to approve a tax incentive agreement for a solar power electric generating facility in 2022, though the school district chose to reject an incentive for the project.

Enbridge representatives said during the Tuesday Ingleside city council meeting that the company was no longer pursuing an Ingleside solar project.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Ingleside denies Enbridge ammonia production facility permit