Assessment of the undeveloped land
A Chinese company last week agreed to lease 900 acres of land at Shoal Point, a former dredge spoils site with prime waterfront acreage south of the Texas City Dike, while it conducts a full environmental assessment of the undeveloped land.
At full capacity, the facility under consideration would produce 7.2 million tons of methanol each year for export to China, making it one of the largest such plants in the world, according to industry consultants.
If it comes to fruition, the project would be the most significant economic development in Galveston County in recent history, said Galveston County Economic Alliance CEO C.B. “Bix” Rathburn, who spoke on behalf of the company.
The deal is far from final. The company is expected to decide by next year whether to build the plant in Texas City or in Donaldsonville, La., on the Mississippi River about 65 miles west of New Orleans, Rathburn said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
“It would be a very big deal but I don’t want everybody getting too lathered up and then be disappointed,” Texas City Mayor Matt Doyle said in an interview. “But the end game could be very attractive for the city, the state and all of us down here on the Gulf Coast.”
Made from natural gas, methanol is used in a wide range of products, including plastics, paints, solvents, refrigerants and pigments. Other countries also use methanol as a replacement or an additive to gasoline, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not approved it as a transportation fuel.