Project Specifics

Gulf Coast Ammonia (GCA) is an agricultural and specialty chemical manufacturing facility that has been in development since 2017. With the addition of its new greenfield anhydrous ammonia production facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, which will produce approximately 1.3 million tons of ammonia per year from hydrogen, it will become one of the largest ammonia producers. Air Products, GCA’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company and operator, is responsible for the development of the subsea hydrogen feedstock pipeline and the diffuser pipeline into the bay.

Geosyntec Scope of Services

Members of the Geosyntec team have been supporting this industrial complex development since 2017, and the environmental aspects of the project came to be managed by Geosyntec in 2019. We have provided key services, including developing the evergreen permit matrix tool and developing and managing environmental permitting deliverables, and the Phase I environmental site assessment. We conducted due diligence for the ammonia synthesis facility and two-mile terrestrial ammonia pipeline and managed marine terminal permitting for water supply. We also conducted ammonia dock and transport waterway suitability assessments, environmental and archaeological studies for the long-haul subsea hydrogen pipeline, and environmental and cultural studies for the wastewater pipeline and in-bay diffuser structure. We also handled diffuser design and supported community engagement.

Geosyntec served as the main agency liaison in complex coordination and negotiations with the State General Land Office and with the USACE District to obtain marine and terrestrial authorizations for construction. For this long-term work, maintaining relationships and navigating governmental rotations in staff position were critical.

Notable Accomplishments

The Geosyntec team successfully leveraged the onshore + offshore environmental project delivery approach, which we honed during many other projects through the years. In addition, with a combination of linear and vertical asset development, we approached this project holistically, with integrated design and permitting, to achieve efficiencies and avoid creating regulatory and planning silos.

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