Warning of climate damage, Democrats ask Biden to pause deepwater oil port approvals

The environmental costs of deepwater ports are too severe and should be a greater consideration of the government's approval of future projects, a group of United States congressional Democrats told the Biden administration.

The United States Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration should pause and reconsider its approval of the Enterprise Product Partners' Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) and change the way it assesses permits for similar pending projects, climate-focused Democrats wrote in a letter to MARAD administrator Adm. Ann Phillips Aug. 9.

"Deepwater oil export terminals and their supporting infrastructure threaten the health and safety of frontline coastal communities and marine ecosystems, exacerbate climate change, and prolong fossil fuel dependence," according to the letter, co-authored by Senator Ed Markey, Democrat-Massachusetts and chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee; and US representative Raul Grijalva, Democrat-Arizona, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

It was signed by 20 other Democratic lawmakers in both the House and Senate.

"MARAD should, therefore, pause all new and pending deepwater port licensing decisions and reopen the record of decision for a recently approved oil export facility," the co-signors said. "During the pause, MARAD must update its approval criteria based on environmental justice, climate, and public health impacts to more accurately determine whether new deepwater oil projects are in the national interest."

A spokesperson for MARAD and the US DOT could not be reached for comment. Markey's Senate office could not be reached for comment.

Targeting SPOT

The Aug. 9 letter is the latest in an intraparty rift over Enterprise's new deepwater oil port. Situated 35 miles off the coast of Brazoria, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, the deepwater port is an offshore platform that aims to optimize VLCC loading and expand export capacity in the face of ever-increasing global demand for US crude. The terminal would be able to load 2 million b/d, Enterprise has said, utilizing two 46-mile pipelines carrying crude from the shore to the 115-foot deep terminal.

Initially planned for 2025, it is expected to become operational by late 2026 or early 2027.

The project survived multiple legal challenges from environmentalist groups. In April 2024, after a federal appellate court upheld the administration's argument that the port would be in the US national interest, MARAD awarded a final license it had first approved in 2022.

In its April statement, MARAD said the project "would make the transport of oil safer for the public and the environment." In an April 9 statement, Enterprise CEO Jim Teague said SPOT's new technology and reduction of ship-to-ship transfers would "reduce operational risks" and "significantly reduce emissions."

Environmentalists have argued that the project would lead to more local air pollution and oil spills, as well as allow an overall increase in the production and sale of fossil fuels -- framing approval as a betrayal of US President Joe Biden's climate and environmental justice agendas. In a 2023 study, the Center for Biological Diversity said carbon emissions from fossil fuel projects would "undermine" the gains of Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act.

Markey and his colleagues echoed those arguments Aug. 9, arguing that failing to consider broader environmental impacts is not in the "national interest."

"One of President Biden's first executive orders called on federal agencies to suspend, rescind, or halt actions that conflict with goals to protect public health and the environment, advance environmental justice, bolster resilience, and confront the climate crisis," the letter said. "Broadening MARAD's interpretation of national interest to more fully include environmental justice, climate, and public health considerations -- in addition to their existing requirement to assess the impact on energy sufficiency and environmental quality -- would be consistent with President Biden's directive."

Other ports pending

While the Democratic letter authors hope MARAD will still pause and reconsider SPOT's approval, they also took aim at three pending deepwater terminal projects: Phillips 66 and Trafigura's joint project Bluewater, Energy Transfer's Blue Marlin offshore port and Sentinel Midstream's GulfLink export terminals, all of which would operate off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.

"While SPOT alone would cause great environmental harm, when combined with the three other pending oil export facilities, the results would be devastating," they said. "Altogether, the crude oil from SPOT, Gulflink, Bluewater, and Blue Marlin would generate 24 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases over 30 years, equivalent to the annual output of nearly 6,170 coal plants." In its approval of SPOT, MARAD cited its own analysis that the terminal would merely optimize transport of already existing crude for export, rather than increase it.

All three terminals remain in the preliminary approvals phase. Phillips 66 and Trafigura first submitted a port license application in 2019, which was granted in 2020 but revoked by the Biden EPA in 2022 over approved pollution levels.

S&P Global Commodity Insights analysts expect US annual output growth of roughly 387,000 b/d in 2024 to an average 13.31 million b/d, and output growth of 739,000 b/d in 2025.

"Expanding domestic oil production and export is inconsistent with the national interest," the lawmakers' letter said. "These deepwater oil ports would represent a sharp expansion in exports and production."