Regulators OK Formosa chemical expansion in Point Comfort {Texas}

Federal and state regulators have cleared the way for Formosa Plastics Corp. to begin construction on a $2 billion expansion of its petrochemical complex in Point Comfort.

The approvals come two years after the private U.S. affiliate of the Taiwan-based industrial company announced plans to build new units and expand its capacity on 372 acres within its existing 1,600-acre site 120 miles southwest of Houston near Port Lavaca. It’s the fourth expansion since the Point Comfort plant went online in 1983.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued final greenhouse gas permits and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality greenlighted the environmental permits for the major Formosa Plastics projects, including a propane dehydrogenation unit, which converts propane into propylene, company spokesman Steve Rice said.

The project is part of a surge of new construction, primarily on the Texas Gulf Coast, aimed at filling a growing global demand for more propylene, a key chemical building block essential for making films, packaging and synthetic fibers.

Propylene was long manufactured in the United States as a byproduct of the petrochemical and refining process, but an industry shift to lighter and cheaper feedstock reduced the propylene production, at times creating shortages.

Only one propane dehydrogenation unit exists in the United States — a Flint Hills Resources plant on the Houston Ship Channel — but plans have been announced for six more to be built by 2018. Formosa’s unit will have the capacity to produce 725,000 tons per year of propylene, according to the EPA.

Formosa’s expansion also includes the construction of an ethane cracker, a low-density polyethylene plant and two more natural gas-fired turbines in addition the company’s six existing turbines.

The expansion is expected to generate 1,800 construction jobs and 225 permanent operations jobs, according to the company.

Formosa Plastics needed approval from the EPA because the projects were expected to emit more than 75,000 tons per year in greenhouse gas.

"Federal [emphasis added] and state regulators have cleared the way for Formosa Plastics Corp. to begin construction on a $2 billion expansion of its petrochemical complex in Point Comfort."

FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument

I know little about Point Comfort. But unless the feds actually purchased the land in compliance with the Constitution's Clause 17 of Section 8 of Article I, or under the eminent domain aspect of the 5th Amendment, putting Point Comfort under the exclusive legislative control of Congress, then the feds have no constitutional authority to regulate anything at Point Comfort imo.

On the other hand, regarding EPA involvement in this issue, I dimly remember that before Constitution-ignoring Congress and the late President Nixon wrongly established the EPA without the required constitutional delegation of power to the feds by the states to address environmental issues, that the states were arguably too lazy to police themselves with respect to taking responsibility for keeping the environment clean. Or so a kid would think from watching the TV commercials at the time.

So it is probably better that the feds are involved in policing the environment. But let's work federal control of environmental issues within the framework of the Constitution. After all, we don't want to inadvertently foster an unconstitutional big federal government. /sarc

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