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Rebekah Staub, rstaub@earthworksaction.org
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WASHINGTON—Four residents from the Texas Gulf Coast were arrested at the Department of Transportation (DOT) headquarters in Washington today to oppose Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), a massive new offshore oil export terminal. The project would emit more than 300 million tons of greenhouse gasses into the air each year on the Texas Gulf Coast, further harming the health of predominantly low-income communities and communities of color.
The Maritime Administration, an agency of DOT, is due to make a final decision on SPOT’s deepwater port application prior to Nov. 21. The Environmental Protection Agency recommended the Biden Administration approve the project license, despite admitting “more emphasis is needed to ensure that environmental justice and climate change considerations are included in the project for the protection of overburdened communities.”
“People who are impacted by these projects, their voices don’t matter,” said Trevor Carroll during the protest, who was later arrested. “The residents of Freeport and Surfside have been fighting the Sea Port Oil Terminal for three years now. We have done everything exactly how we’re supposed to to raise concerns about this project, but all of that seems like it’s been completely disregarded, especially if this project goes through. The Biden Administration has a decision to make. Are they going to listen to the people who will be directly impacted by this project, or are they going to listen to these companies?”
SPOT is one of six deepwater oil and gas export facilities proposed for the Gulf of Mexico which is overburdened by the fossil fuel industry and climate change-induced natural disasters caused by the emissions from fossil fuel production and use.