Corpus Christi (KIII News) — Some residents living near the proposed $12 billion plastics plant that Exxon plans to build between Gregory and Portland are opposed to the project, and an environmental group called the Texas Campaign for the Environment are contesting the company's all-important permits that are still pending before the TCEQ.
Dewey Magee lives just down the street from where the $12 billion Exxon plastics plant is set to be built. He is also one of the people in the area who have filed for a contested case hearing with the TCEQ to challenge the air permit request by Exxon. Magee's hope is that the TCEQ will stop the plant from going in here.
"Hopefully they're going to do their job, and if we had our way they would move this thing," Magee said. "They would move it to another location."
Magee said he has a grandson with asthma and fears the chemicals released into the air from the plant will affect his grandson and others who live and go to school in the area.
"It's very concerning to us from a health standpoint," Magee said. "They say trust us. They say we'll be clean, but yet their history seems to differ."
Exxon officials said they believe they can safely operate the plant there even with two nearby schools.
"We have built and we operate plants much like this all across the Gulf Coast," said Executive Rob Tully with Gulf Coast Growth Ventures. "We operate them safely and reliably day in and day out. We've operated these plants for decades and in some cases, for over 100 years, so we feel we can do the same thing here in the Portland area."
Tully said the company will provide any additional information that the TCEQ may request.
Foster Edwards with the San Patricio County Economic Development Corporation believes Exxon will not have any problems getting the air permit from the state.
"I'm not worried about a contested hearing at all," Edwards said. "It's clear that people want to go through the process and double check everything, and that's fine. I think the ExxonMobil SABIC people have done a great job with this and I don't see any problems at all."
The Texas Campaign for the Environment has helped residents file for the contested case hearing, one which they say is similar to a trial that would have Exxon showing that the new plant would not violate anti-pollution laws. There has been no decision on when that hearing might be held.
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