INGLESIDE, Texas — Hundreds of residents from Ingleside and other areas of the Coastal Bend filled City Hall and the nearby community center for a public hearing on the special use permit for Project YaREN.
YaREN is a proposed blue ammonia facility planned at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center.
The ordinance would grant a special use permit for the construction and operation of the facility on more than 200 acres located at 1450 Lexington Blvd, including piers and dock structures extending into Corpus Christi Bay, according to the meeting agenda.
Cora Rose, a resident of Ingleside on the Bay, said she has opposed the project since moving to the community three years ago.
“I have concerns about the safety aspect, the track history of the companies that are building this and the lack of knowledge surrounding carbon capture,” Rose said. She added that she was upset to learn the council moved the permit forward. “Ingleside doesn’t want to hear what those surrounding people, the surrounding communities that are also affected by the project have to say.”
Rose said she intends to continue speaking out, even if the project advances.
“Absolutely I’m not happy with the project being here, and if that means that I need to take my money elsewhere and take my living situation elsewhere, I guess that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.
Captain Kelly, owner of Dolphin Connection Ingleside, said her business depends entirely on the health of the bay and surrounding wildlife.
Kelly attended Monday’s meeting and called the vote “disappointing.”
“We showed up, the community showed up,” she said. “We knew going in that 99% of the permits are always approved, which is unfortunate, but we fought anyway because Ingleside and the bay is worth fighting for.”
“In the end you can have all the jobs, all the infrastructure, all the roads that they claim they’re gonna build for us,” she said. “But in the end it comes down to hey, we want to breathe clean air, we want to be on the water, clean water.”
Kelly said she and other residents will continue to oppose the project.
According to project materials from Enbridge and Yara, the joint venture proposes a low-carbon ammonia production facility capable of producing up to 2.8 million metric tons per year. The companies say the facility would:
- create up to 4,000 construction jobs
- create up to 200 permanent jobs once operational
Following Monday's vote, Enbridge provided KRIS 6 with the following statement:
“We are pleased members of the Ingleside City Council voted in favor of a Special Use Permit for Project YaREN.
This confirms that all necessary safety and environmental measures are in place to protect the community and property surrounding this facility. This is an important step forward in bringing Project YaREN to Ingleside with safe operations and positive economic impacts for the area.
We have been working for nearly two years meeting with and listening to the community.
We have built in safeguards that meet or exceed regulatory standards to protect both people and the environment. We believe this is an important project for the community and the region and we look forward to continuing the conversation through the permitting and construction processes and being an integral part of the community for years to come.
We look forward to the next step, which is a second vote by the City Council.”
The Ingleside City Council will take up the second reading of the special use permit on Tuesday, December 9.
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