President Trump claimed a “huge victory” this week when he announced that Reliance Industries, a private Indian energy company, is investing in a proposed refinery in Brownsville, Texas.
President Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that “America’s first new refinery in 50 years” will be built in the coastal city. Plans for the refinery are not new, dating back a decade, but President Trump wants to claim credit for the refinery if it is eventually built.
The president is aiming for victory as global energy prices soar due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Brownsville environmental activists who previously challenged the refinery’s permit application denounced the refinery as a “zombie” project that would pollute the air and waterways.
“We thank our Indian partners and their largest privately held energy company, Reliance, for this significant investment,” the president said on Tuesday. “This is what American energy dominance looks like. America first, always!”
The project was originally developed by Jupiter Brownsville LLC and received state permits in 2021. Houston-based Element Fuels took over the project in January 2024, according to regulatory filings. In December 2025, America First Refining, with the same ownership, took over from Element Fuels.
Port of Brownsville officials held an impromptu press conference Wednesday morning.
“We will be able to enter into this contract and bring that refinery to the Port of Brownsville,” said Port Director and CEO William Dietrich. He said construction on the “shovel-ready” project would begin “in the near future.”
Local environmentalists protested outside the press conference.
“The Brownsville community has opposed this refinery for more than seven years since it was first proposed, and will continue to oppose it because it would release toxins into our air, waterways, and environment,” the South Texas Environmental Justice Network said in a statement.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Long-standing proposal could move forward
Plans for the refinery go back many years. The same goes for local opponents.
Jupiter Brownsville LLC applied for a permit with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in 2017. Local environmentalists, shrimpers and fishermen filed a complaint with the agency. The case went to an administrative hearing, and the agency ultimately issued a permit in 2021, requiring the company to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and increase pollution monitoring.
Since 2021, the developer has obtained three extensions to the construction deadline. On February 26, TCEQ officials extended the deadline for America First Refining to begin construction from April 19, 2026 to October 19, 2027. TCEQ officials wrote in the extension letter that this is the “third and final” extension allowed under Texas law.
“If construction does not begin by October 19, 2027, Permit No. 147681 will be automatically revoked,” TCEQ staff members wrote.
Reliance Industries and America First Refining did not respond to Inside Climate News’ questions. Reliance Industries has not publicly commented on the deal.
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Charles McConnell, a former assistant secretary of energy in the Obama administration who now teaches at the University of Houston, said the Texas Gulf Coast has long played an important role in the global oil refining industry. He said energy companies like Reliance, which sources most of its crude oil from the Middle East, are rethinking their investment strategies as the Iran war threatens access to oil in the region.
“This is a clear opportunity (for Reliance),” he said.
The Brownsville refinery would make the company “less dependent on less reliable locations,” he said.
But McConnell said it was still too early to tell whether the refinery would be built.
“When you bring a company like Reliance into the conversation, it makes the story even more compelling,” he says. “Big companies that are serious about it have more arrows pointing in the right direction.”
McConnell said new technology is allowing energy companies to increase capacity at existing U.S. refineries instead of building new ones. But he said that with the capital and the right market, the United States could see its first new refinery in decades.
President Trump’s Truth Social magazine announcement said the refinery was a “$300 billion deal,” which he called “the largest in American history.”
Michael Webber, an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, called these numbers “disinformation” in a post on social media platform X. Construction costs for the refinery were previously estimated at $3 billion to $4 billion.
America First Refining’s press release claimed the deal would “improve” the U.S. trade imbalance by $300 billion.
Environmental controversy over refinery reopening
The refinery site is located on 240 acres within the Port of Brownsville and will process 160,000 barrels of shale oil per day from the Permian Basin, according to a press release from the Port of Brownsville. The port said America First Refining is expected to create 500 jobs. The company said the refinery will use hydrogen and clean fuel systems to minimize emissions.
The South Texas Environmental Justice Network called “clean” refineries an oxymoron. The group also questioned the amount of water needed for the refinery.
“The Port of Brownsville continues to display a lack of foresight and bad business practices in pushing the Rio Grande Valley region into a massive water shortage catastrophe,” the group said in a statement, citing a recent report from Inside Climate News in Corpus Christi, Texas.
A major liquefied natural gas terminal is also under development at the Port of Brownsville. SpaceX’s launch site is just a few miles away. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network warns that these industrial projects threaten coastal wetlands in the Rio Grande Delta.
“Refineries planned to operate beyond the shipping lanes from shrimping areas would severely harm the Rio Grande Valley’s shrimping and natural tourism industries,” the group said.
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Martha Puskowski
El Paso, Texas reporter
Martha Puskowski is based in El Paso and covers climate change and the environment in Texas. She previously served as an environmental reporter for the El Paso Times. She began her career as a freelance journalist in Mexico, working as a reporter for news organizations such as The Guardian and Yale E360. Martha holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Hampshire College and a master’s degree in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. She is a former Fulbright Fellow in Mexico. Martha can be reached on Signal at psskow.33.
