Community Questions Air Quality Safety at Public Hearing for Texas LNG

Packed Room at Brownsville Historical Museum for
TESC Air Quality Hearing for Texas LNG

During a ten minute intermission at last night's TCEQ Hearing on air quality for a single LNG applicant, I noticed Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema sitting in the front row of the Brownsville Historical Museum's meeting room.

"You are opposed to the LNG plants at the Port of Brownsville, are you not?" I asked.

"Oh, absolutely!" Hockema replied.  "Point Isabel ISD rejected their request for $200,000,000 in tax abatements for a second time and will continue to deny them," he explained.

Representative Rene Oliveira Opened Meeting,
Then Left before Public Comment

Hockema agreed with me, that if the LNG plants are allowed to set up, twenty or thirty years from now the stretch from the Port of Brownsville to Port Isabel will pass the highly-contaminated metal wreckage of abandoned LNG plants.  After all, studies show the market for LNG is shrinking as countries like China develop their own natural gas and the world moves to alternate sources of energy.

Pertinent questions were duly noted by the TCEQ panel and recorded to be part of the public record. Scott Nicol asked if devices to monitor air quality had been set up near schools.  He was told that the EPA requirement was met with one meter in Brownsville to measure ozone and another in Port Isabel to gauge particulates.  

"Has the panel considered the combination of SpaceX and LNG plants in case of a rocket explosion or misfiring?" asked a lady representing the shrimping industry.  She came back later to ask if the TCEQ, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, could be sued later if the shrimping industry suffered as a result of the LNG plants.  She was told they could.

Dave Glessner, Permitting General Manager,
Texas LNG

Several questions were referred to Dave Glessner, Permitting General Manager for Texas LNG.  Although the hearing was limited to a discussion of air quality, Glessner took the liberty of mentioning the jobs Texas LNG would bring to Cameron County, "600 in construction for three years, then a permanent staff of 80."

When a resident asked if those jobs would be filled by locals, Glessner assured him that Texas LNG would look for people with "similar skills" and "spend a lot of money on training."  

Seemingly unnoticed by the audience, Glessner referred to Cameron County as the country's "second poorest region" with a "per capita income of $26,661," about half the state average.(Should we give car dealer Mike Hernandez's OP 10.33 group credit for pulling Cameron County out of the country's income cellar?)

Glessner was later asked if his company's stated regimen of "checking for leaks every 3 months" was adequate.  Certainly, a serious situation could develop in 90 days that could threaten community health.