LNG Project Nearing Final Stages At Brownsville Port

By R. Daniel Cavazos

An artist's rendering features the design and look of the proposed LNG plant at the Port of Brownsville. (Courtesy)

Rio Grande Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) hosted an open house in Port Isabel on April 13, expressing confidence that its long-awaited multi-billion project at the Port of Brownsville is nearing imminent final approval as its parent company pursues agreements for the product it would manufacture in the Rio Grande Valley.

Rio Grande staff and the construction firm it would utilize to build the Port of Brownsville project greeted guests at the Port Isabel Event & Cultural Center. Information tables were arranged in a horseshoe fashion as Rio Grande and Bechtel Energy, the construction firm, worked to cultivate support for its proposed $11 billion-plus project. The majority of federal regulations have been cleared, a Rio Grande communications executive said, with the last hurdle being securing the last batch of agreements for financing.

"We will have an announcement on a final investment decision by the end of June," said Susan Richardson, a senior director of communications for Rio Grande LNG. "We’ve been in collaborative discussions with stakeholders across the Valley and listening to their concerns."

A Rio Grande LNG employee answers questions regarding the company's proposed plant at the Port of Brownsville.

If built, the LNG plant would occupy 984 acres on the northern side of the Port of Brownsville, by state Highway 48 and east of the port’s fishing harbor. Feed gas to be liquefied would arrive at the LNG facility via pipeline from West Texas and then be loaded onto cargo vessels for transport to markets around the world.

The initial project investment would total about $11.4 billion and represent the largest single private sector investment in Texas in 2023.

"You want to say we’re confident because we’ve spent so much time on it," said Eduardo Campirano, the Port of Brownsville’s Chief Executive Officer. "At the same time, I want to see it happen after so many years of discussions."

Overcoming Legal Challenges

The enormity of the project is such that it would take several years to complete all of its phases.

Completion of the first phase of the Rio Grande plant would have the capability to produce over 16 million tons of product per year. In its later phases, production capacity would increase to nearly 30 million tons yearly. There was no timetable given at the Port Isabel open house on when the Rio Grande LNG facility’s first phase would be completed if construction started later this year.

A Reuters story last year pegged Rio Grande’s start of commercial operations beginning in 2026 if current plans were to proceed. The issues beyond the financing questions and the remaining regulatory matters are if the surrounding coastal communities support the construction of a large industrial complex in close proximity to where its residents live and work.

In recent years, the city of Port Isabel filed a lawsuit against the Brownsville Navigation District in alleging that the port’s lease agreements with LNG terminal developers were approved without sufficient environmental analysis. In late 2022, a state appeals court upheld a district court ruling in dismissing the lawsuit. Similar legal action was taken against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after it approved permitting for the LNG facility at the port. Those efforts, which were taken up by environmental groups, have also failed to stop Rio Grande from going forward after it won favorable court rulings in those actions.

The gist of the objections to LNG facility at the Brownsville port is that the Valley should not join Corpus Christi, Houston and other Gulf Coast communities in having petrochemical and refinery-like facilities on its coastlines. It’s a characterization that Campirano rejects.

"We are not going to be Houston ship channel or the Corpus Christi ship channel," said the Brownsville port’s CEO. "Those are the pictures people show as to what the port is going to look like. Well, no, it’s not going to look like that because you won’t see refineries at the port and you won’t see petrochemicals, but the port is about industrial development."

"I understand nobody wants industry in their backyard," Campirano said. "You go where you’re suppose to go, and for this project, it’s a deep-water sea port."

Far Reaching Impact

Renderings of the proposed LNG plant at the Brownsville port give the look of a heavy industrial plant minus the exhaust stacks of a refinery or the flickering of flames atop tall stacks.

Rio Grande LNG and its parent company, NextDecade, tout its proposed Brownsville plant as being a clean energy facility. 

A Rio Grande LNG open house in Port Isabel on April 13 drew a large crowd of guests seeking information about the multi-billion proposed plant at the Port of Brownsville.

It highlights the latest technology that will be used to capture carbon and reduce CO2 emissions at an industrial facility like the one it proposes at the Brownsville port. Rio Grande LNG states in its presentations that plant design "includes several mitigations to reduce visual impacts," and will utilize ground flares to reduce roadside visibility.

Far Reaching Impact

Renderings of the proposed LNG plant at Brownsville port give the look of a heavy industrial plant minus the exhaust stacks of a refinery or the flickering of flames atop tall stacks.

Rio Grande LNG and its parent company, NextDecade, tout its proposed Brownsville plant as being a clean energy facility. It highlights the latest technology that will be used to capture carbon and reduce CO2 emissions at an industrial facility like the one it proposes at the Brownsville port. Rio Grande LNG states in its presentations that plant design "includes several mitigations to reduce visual impacts," and will utilize ground flares to reduce roadside visibility.

 Rio Grande LNG is hosting open houses in RGV communities to share information about its proposed LNG plant at the Port of Brownsville.

Should it come to fruition, the LNG plant in Brownsville will have a formidable economic impact. Richardson, the company spokesperson, said 5000 people will be employed to build the plant at the Brownsville port. Rio Grande is pledging that at least 35 percent of that workforce will be made up of local residents. Construction workers from outside of the area will require housing at hotels and rental properties in addition to spending dollars at area restaurants and retail businesses.

Once completed, the plant will employ as many as 400 permanent workers.

"It’s going to have a far-reaching impact on the (Valley) community as a whole, not just the port," Campirano said.  "It will allow us to be with Corpus and everyone above us in terms of electric infrastructure, load construction, all that drives this. Environmentally, they (Rio Grande LNG) have crossed all of the bars. If they couldn’t do it, we wouldn’t be supporting it."

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