Opinion: Protect Ingleside from this dangerous ammonia plant
As published by the Corpus Christi Caller Times on July 30, 2025.
As most Ingleside area residents are well aware, Enbridge and Yara are proposing to build a massive ammonia production plant less than two miles from the Ingleside Primary School. But the issues with “Project YaREN” go beyond the plant’s terrifying proximity to our schoolchildren and neighborhoods in the event of an accident – they are about constant public health hazards, serious risks to our bay, and a stunning lack of accountability from two foreign corporations.
For those who may not know, ammonia – used primarily to make fertilizers – is a highly toxic, colorless chemical gas designated as an Extremely Hazardous Substance under federal law. Just a small leak can cause breathing problems, severe lung damage, or even death. It’s also flammable and highly explosive under heat or pressure. And these aren’t theoretical dangers. Across the country and around the world, ammonia incidents regularly claim lives and injure workers. Just Google “ammonia leak” news and see for yourself how often accidents happen. Based on that risk alone, ammonia production is not something we want anywhere near our homes or schools.
But even beyond the nightmare scenario of an accident, the proposed plant’s everyday operations would pollute the air we breathe. According to the companies’ own permit application, “Project YaREN” would emit 524 tons of toxic pollutants each year, including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia itself. Living downwind will mean constant exposure to these contaminants, many of which are linked to asthma, heart disease, and cancer. Worse, we have no way to track or warn about these emissions. Currently, there are no continuous air quality monitors anywhere in San Patricio County. The nearest TCEQ stations are across Corpus Christi Bay, and even those don’t monitor for ammonia. In other words, we’re flying blind when it comes to both routine pollution and hazardous leaks.
The proposed plant also presents a serious threat to our bay. To meet their immense water needs, the companies plan to build a desalination facility to draw millions of gallons from the bay and remove the salt. The concentrated brine would then be dumped back into the water, where it could wreak havoc on the ecosystem. Marine scientists warn that this kind of discharge – essentially toxic levels of salt – can kill fish, oysters, and the seagrass beds that serve as nurseries for marine life. These seagrasses also stabilize our shorelines and provide critical storm protection. We can’t afford to lose them. Even more concerning is the potential release of ammonia or nitrogen-rich wastewater, known to fuel algae blooms and create oxygen-starved dead zones. That could devastate fishing, recreation, and tourism.
Advocates for the plant – primarily Enbridge and Yara themselves – tout it as a “blue” ammonia project, claiming they’ll capture and store 95% of carbon emissions. But even they don’t seem convinced. Their own permit application requests permission to release all carbon into the air for at least the first year. And if their plan doesn’t work exactly as promised – indeed, carbon capture and storage has never been achieved at the scale they’ve proposed – not only could the plant’s emissions be 20 times higher than advertised, the companies could still collect tens or even hundreds of millions in U.S. taxpayer subsidies over time.
Unfortunately there’s no comfort to be had in examining the companies’ track records. Not only is there little reason to believe they can make their unproven plan work, but both have long histories of industrial accidents. In Enbridge’s case, that includes the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history, and hundreds of environmental violations at its Ingleside facility. Yara, meanwhile, has faced international criticism for repeated leaks at its ammonia facilities abroad, including nitrogen pollution.
Their approach to “Project YaREN” – to serve up slick PR campaign slogans while dodging critical questions and ignoring community leaders – has only deepened public concern. For example, when the Ingleside City Council unanimously denied the project’s special permit in January, the companies insisted a 2012 approval still applied. Even more alarming, they have failed to present a detailed emergency response plan to the public. Given the extreme danger of producing ammonia so close to homes and schools – and the fact that Ingleside has no hospital and limited emergency services – that is beyond unacceptable.
Ingleside is not against development. But we will fight for our community when it is put at risk. This project does just that. It puts our everyday safety in jeopardy, it threatens to pollute our air and water, it gambles with unproven technology, and it is being pushed by companies with deeply troubling records who answer tough questions with “just trust us.” Sorry, but we don’t. Enbridge and Yara can expect a fight.