Avina Clean Hydrogen subsidiary Nueces Green Ammonia, LLC has received a positive preliminary decision to construct a green ammonia facility in Robstown, Texas, near Corpus Christi.
The subsidiary filed for the permit in late December with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and has been met with strong opposition from the local community.
The nearly 400 public comments received at the TCEQ portal are from area residents that are overwhelmingly against the project. TCEQ will hold a public meeting on July 29 in Robstown, according to the draft decision, which was issued on June 17.
In addition to air quality concerns, a major point of contention has been Nueces’ application for 4.5 million gallons per day of potable water and 1 million gallons per day of raw water from Nueces County Water Control and Improvement District 3. The water district has been under a Stage 2 drought contingency plan since September, 2023, which places limits on water consumption.
The Corpus Christi area has become a hothouse for green hydrogen/ammonia developers. Officials are seeking to build a seawater desalination plant – producing 30 million gallons of water per day – to keep up with growing industrial demand.
Nueces Green Ammonia is a proposed world-scale anhydrous ammonia facility with a production capacity of 800,000 metric tons per year.
Avina, based out of Short Hills, New Jersey, has hired an investment bank to raise some $2.5bn in debt and equity for the project, ReSource reported previously.
Avina had planned to take a final investment decision in 2Q24 but the FID has been pushed back to 3Q, according to the project website.
