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Max Midstream Air Pollution Permit! – TCEQ Public Meeting

Hi Folks,

Myself, Diane Wilson, the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, and others are raising a ruckus to stop the proposed dredging of Matagorda Bay.  

As you may remember, back in April, I waged a five-week hunger strike in opposition to this proposal by a fly-by-night company out of Houston ( funded by a British billionaire Cola that is into gold mines and fancy hotels) that wants to dredge up a mercury-filled Superfund site in Matagorda Bay so they can build a massive crude oil export facility on the  Texas Gulf Coast.


Alcoa/Lavaca Bay documents estimate they lost 1,223,733 pounds of mercury from 1966-1979.  That’s 276 pounds per day. 1 pound of mercury can potentially contaminate 1 million fish to the 1 part per million EPA safe level. And the 276 pounds of mercury lost  in one day can potentially make 90,000,000 pounds of marine fish landed in Texas with 3 ppm of mercury and unsafe to eat.

Now the company, Max Midstream needs an air pollution permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The company claims it doesn’t need to use the best available pollution control technologies despite the fact their facility would emit dangerous carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen sulfide, and volatile organic compounds. After community members submitted almost 90 requests for a public meeting in just 48 hours, TCEQ agreed to hold a meeting on the proposed permit and extended the written comment deadline. The meeting will take place virtually on August 17th, 2021.  We urge you to support all our efforts by submitting written comments and/or participating in the TCEQ Public Meeting to voice your opposition to this air permit.  Additional information is found here in this toolkit.


While personal comments are encouraged, if you are strapped for time, you can easily join others in submitting a comment here!


Stay strong, Agitate, and Challenge.
Diane Waterkeeper, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper