Phillips 66 PSX.N on Friday said it plans to submit a new air-quality permit application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its proposed oil-export terminal off the Texas coast.

The EPA this month revoked the pollution control permit for the Bluewater terminal and directed the oil refiner and pipeline operator to submit a revised proposal.

“The new permit applications will incorporate an emissions-reduction strategy to further minimize the air emissions associated with marine loading” for the facility, the company said in a statement.

The terminal, jointly developed by refiner Phillips 66 and commodities trader Trafigura, in 2019 applied for a permit in 2019 and received an EPA pollution control license that allowed it to emit almost 19,000 tons of pollutants per year.

But environmental groups urged the agency to seek changes that would reduce by 95% the pollution allowed by the permit for Bluewater, which is located near Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Environmental Integrity Project and others had argued that pollution from the terminal’s offshore infrastructure posed risks to nearby minority and lower-income residents.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gary McWilliams; editing by Jonathan Oatis)