November, 22 2022, 12:01pm EDT
Biden Administration Approves Application for New Oil Export Project on Texas Coast Despite Climate Goals and Environmental Justice Pledges
WASHINGTON
Despite pledging to prioritize climate change and environmental justice in its decision making, and coming on the heels of promising further emissions reduction, the Biden Administration today approved the application for the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), a new offshore oil export terminal that will increase cancer-causing air pollutants in Texas' Brazoria and Harris counties and make climate change worse.
The Maritime Administration's (MARAD) decision requires SPOT LLC to comply with conditions on the issuance of the permit, including state and federal permitting, detailed construction plans, and the development of operation manuals before MARAD issues the license.
Today's decision follows a three-year federal review process including a final environmental impact statement and public input process that resulted in more than 80,000 written comments submitted in opposition of the project. As recently as last week, more than 40 organizations signed a letter asking the Biden Administration to deny this project. Additionally, 290 organizations recently filed a legal petition with MARAD demanding that the Biden Administration immediately halt any new approvals of new deepwater port infrastructure, including SPOT, as contrary to national interest.
SPOT is one of four deepwater crude export facilities proposed for the Gulf of Mexico which already is overburdened by fossil fuel industry development, and continually shoulders the burden of climate change-induced natural disasters caused by emissions from fossil fuel production and use.
Ultimate license issuance by MARAD would allow Enterprise and Enbridge to export more than 2 million barrels of crude oil each day on massive tankers the size of the Empire State Building, locking-in global fossil fuel dependence for the next thirty years. SPOT would cause the emissions of hazardous cancer-causing air pollution and more than 300 million tons of greenhouse gasses each year. That is the carbon equivalent of operating more than 80 coal-fired power plants. SPOT requires the build out of 140 miles of onshore and offshore pipeline infrastructure, threatening frontline communities, water resources, ecosystems and endangered wildlife with destructive oil spills. This project will worsen environmental racism and further harm the health of predominantly low-income communities and communities of color. The air quality in these communities has failed to meet EPA standards for decades and is home to some of the highest cancer clusters in the nation.
Statements from Texas Coast residents and allied organizations:
"Freeport has been a dumping ground for these oil & gas plants for decades. DOW Chemical, Freeport LNG, and other fossil fuel and petrochemical companies have already had toxic emission releases night & day. There has never been any recourse," said Gwen Jones from Freeport, TX. "Why does this keep happening? Because we are poor minorities. The company claims that SPOT will be good, but in reality, it's a death sentence for my community. It is clear our voices are not being listened to by decision-makers. This must change."
"The company Enterprise has no plans set in place for fishing and tourism losses when the SPOT terminal inevitably spills oil. Enterprise has a terrible spill record, and they choose to run these pipelines right up our ass," said Donna Robinson from Surfside Beach and with Stop SPOT & TX Gulflink. "We are against this oil project because it will do nothing but contribute pollution to our already dangerously dirty air and increase the chances of yet another oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."
"President Biden cannot lead on combating climate change, protecting public health or advocating for environmental justice while simultaneously allowing fossil fuel companies to lock-in decades of fossil fuel extraction," said Kelsey Crane, senior policy advocate at Earthworks. "This administration has the power to stop crude oil export projects and limit fossil fuels, an essential missing piece of U.S. climate policy. Communities that are being harmed by fossil fuels have been calling on President Biden to stop permitting oil and gas projects since his first day in office. The people most impacted by the SPOT project are being ignored, and their families, children, and neighbors will continue to have their environment degraded and suffer from living alongside more toxic pollution just so the fossil fuel industry can continue posting record profits."
"Our Gulf Coast communities are already sick because of the fossil fuel industry. We've made it clear with letters, protests, and studies that we can't take another oil or gas operation pumping toxic chemicals and dangerous greenhouse gas emissions into neighborhoods and the climate," said Rebekah Hinojosa, Sierra Club Gulf Coast Campaign Representative. "What will it take for the Biden Administration and regulators to hear Gulf Coast voices over industry lobbyists? They've sold out communities again by approving the application for SPOT."
"When we say oil and gas companies are sacrificing communities to make a buck this is exactly what we are talking about. SPOT would emit over 300 million tons of carbon dioxide every year polluting the air and water of Brazoria and Harris counties in Texas while creating serious health threats for everyone living there. We have less than a decade to cut emissions by half. Approving new oil and gas projects is not a bridge, it is an on-ramp to planetary collapse," said Destiny Watford, climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA. "It is peak hypocrisy for President Biden and Secretary Pete Buttigieg to shorten the fuse on the world's largest carbon bomb by greenlighting additional oil export terminals right after lecturing the world about increasing climate ambitions at COP27."
"Exporting oil and gas unleashes climate calamity on the U.S. and the world," said Lauren Parker, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute. "Biden needs to respect the science, the law and his own climate goals by keeping these dangerous fossil fuel projects off our coasts."
Earthworks is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development while promoting sustainable solutions.
(202) 887-1872LATEST NEWS
Police Say Luigi Mangione, Suspected Killer of Insurance CEO, Had 'Ill Will Toward Corporate America'
Mangione, who was arrested Monday in Pennsylvania five days after UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down in Manhattan, was reportedly in possession of an anti-corporate manifesto.
Dec 09, 2024
This is a breaking news story... Please check back later for possible updates.
Luigi Mangione—the 26-year-old man arrested in Pennsylvania Monday on gun charges and is suspected of last week's assassination of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson—was carrying a manifesto condemning insurance industry greed, police said after his apprehension.
Mangione, a Maryland native who according to his social media profiles has a master's degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, was apprehended after being recognized in a MacDonald's in Altoona after an employee recognized him,
The New York Timesreported.
New York Police Department (NYPD) Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione was in possession of a 9mm handgun—possibly a ghost gun made with numerous parts or a 3-D printer—the type used to kill Thompson, as well as a silencer and what she described as an anti-corporate manifesto.
"It does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America," Kenny said.
According toCNN, Mangione wrote in the document that he acted alone and was "self-funded."
"I do apologize for any strife or trauma," the manifesto stated, "but it had to be done. These parasites had it coming."
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch claimed that Mangione was also carrying a fake New Jersey ID matching the one the suspected killed used to check into a New York City hostel 10 days before Thomspon was gunned down in broad daylight in Manhattan with a silencer-equipped gun firing 9mm bullets.
Three bullet casings were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose"—a phrase commonly used by critics to describe insurance industry tactics to avoid paying patient claims. UnitedHealth, the nation's biggest private insurer, is
notorious for denying more claims than any other insurance company.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Gaza Ministry Says 50 Killed in a Day as Israel Bombs Flour Line, Hospital, and Refugee Camps
"We demand international protection for hospitals, patients, and medical staff," said the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Dec 09, 2024
The death toll from Israel's 14-month assault on the Gaza Strip hit at least 44,758 on Monday, with 50 people killed in the past 24 hours alone, as Israeli forces bombed refugee camps, a flour distribution line, and a hospital, according to reporters and officials in the Palestinian enclave.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said a bombing at the Indonesian Hospital north of Gaza City wounded six patients—who are now among more than 106,000 Palestinians injured since Israel began its retaliation for last year's Hamas-led attack.
"We demand international protection for hospitals, patients, and medical staff," the ministry said in a statement reported by The Associated Press—which noted that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed Sunday evening it was unaware of any attack on the hospital "in the last three to four hours."
A nurse shared footage from the hospital with Drop Site News, which circulated the material on social media:
According toAl Jazeera, "Overnight, an Israeli attack in the southern city of Rafah also killed 10 people while they had lined up to buy flour."
Israel, which faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, has been accused of starving Gaza's 2.3 million residents by refusing to allow enough humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.
Reporting from central Deir al-Balah, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said that at least three people were killed in a Monday morning attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north that Israeli bombing and the ongoing blockade have "turned into a graveyard."
The victims "were trying to leave their home in search of food in the vicinity of their neighborhood when they were targeted by a drone," the journalist said. "They were killed right away. Their bodies are still in the street and nobody has the ability to get to the bombed site and remove the bodies from the street."
The IDF announced that three soldiers were killed and 12 others were wounded Monday in fighting in Jabalia.
Mahmoud, the journalist, also said Monday that bodies were piling up outside al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after an Israeli bombing at the Bureij refugee camp.
"The agony keeps on unfolding here at al-Aqsa Hospital, where survivors and relatives showed up early this morning to collect the bodies from the morgue of the hospital," he said. "At some point, the morgue of the hospital was packed with the bodies and there was not enough room for more bodies."
Citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Middle East Eyereported that "two children lost their lives, and others were injured on Monday, during Israeli shelling of al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip."
The updates followed a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya leaving Cairo Sunday evening after meeting with Egypt's general intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, to discuss a potential cease-fire in Gaza.
Israeli media reported Sunday that unnamed political sources claimed Hamas and Israel are close to reaching a "small" deal that would involve a two-month cease-fire; the release of prisoners who are elderly, women, wounded, and sick; and the IDF's withdrawal from parts of Gaza.
Neither Hamas nor mediators Egypt and Qatar have commented on the reporting—which came over a week into an Israeli cease-fire with the Lebanese group Hezbollah that Israel has repeatedly violated since it took effect late last month.
In neighboring Syria, the government of President Bashar al-Assad collapsed over the weekend as he fled and rebels took control of the capital. Israel seized more of the country's Golan Heights, which it has illegally occupied for decades, and the United States—which arms the IDF—launched airstrikes on over 75 Islamic State targets in Syria.
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Bombs Over 75 Targets in Syria After Assad Falls
"The Western press are waxing lyrical about the new Syria being born—but not a word on the U.S. and Israeli bombs falling from the sky," said Yanis Varoufakis.
Dec 09, 2024
U.S. military forces launched dozens of airstrikes on more than 75 Islamic State targets in Syria on Sunday after the fall of longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid ongoing Israeli and Turkish attacks on the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.
According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), warplanes including B-52 bombers, F-15 fighters, and A-10 ground attack aircraft "conducted dozens of precision airstrikes targeting known ISIS camps and operatives in central Syria."
CENTCOM called the strikes "part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS in order to prevent the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria."
The U.S., "together with allies and partners in the region, will continue to carry out operations to degrade ISIS operational capabilities even during this dynamic period in Syria," CENTCOM added.
"The Biden administration ordering ongoing airstrikes is a disappointing sign that they have no intent on reversing their deadly policy of interventionism."
Responding Monday to the latest attacks on Syria by U.S. forces, Danaka Katovich, national co-director of the peace group CodePink, told Common Dreams: "We condemn the U.S. airstrikes in Syria. The U.S. has sowed chaos in Syria and the entire region for years and the Biden administration ordering ongoing airstrikes is a disappointing sign that they have no intent on reversing their deadly policy of interventionism."
U.S. and coalition forces have killed and maimed at least tens of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis during the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations as part of the anti-ISIS campaign and wider so-called War on Terror.
Commenting on the dearth of coverage of the strikes by the corporate media, prominent Greek leftist Yanis Varoufakis said on social media that "the Western press are waxing lyrical about the new Syria being born—but not a word on the U.S. and Israeli bombs falling from the sky."
"Is there no bottom to the moral void of the Western press?" he added.
Sunday's U.S. strikes came as al-Assad and relatives fled to Russia—where they have been granted asylum—amid the fall of the capital, Damascus, to rebel forces.
Also on Sunday, Israeli forces seized more territory in Syria's Golan Heights and ordered residents of five villages to "stay home and not go out until further notice" if they want to remain safe. Israel conquered the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1967 and has unlawfully occupied it ever since. In 1981, Israel illegally annexed the occupied lands.
"We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border," right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza—said in a video posted on social media.
Numerous Israelis celebrated the seizure on social media, while others cautioned against boasting about what is almost certainly an illegal conquest.
Meanwhile in northern Syria, Turkish airstrikes in support of Syrian National Army rebels—who are battling U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters in and around the Kurdish-controlled city of Manbij—reportedly killed numerous civilians along with dozens of militants.
In what it called a "horrific massacre," the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday that 11 civilians from the same family, including women and six children, were killed in a Turkish drone strike on the SDF-controlled village of Al-Mustariha in northern Raqqa Governate.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular