In an application to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, ExxonMobil said it is considering Calhoun County, Texas, for a new plant that would convert natural gas into the raw ingredients of plastics.

On Dec. 23, 2024, ExxonMobil applied for property tax breaks from the local Calhoun County Independent School District to build its Coastal Plain Project, which would include a “cracker” to convert ethane, a component of natural gas, into ethylene, used to make plastics and other chemicals. The plant would also produce polyethylene, the most commonly produced plastic, used in plastic bags, films, and bottles.

A similar ethane cracker plant near Corpus Christi, Texas, jointly owned by ExxonMobil and the Saudi Arabian government, racked up 63 air pollution violations in itsfirst two years, according to state records. Calhoun County is already home to Formosa’s massive plastics plant in Point Comfort, which has a history of polluting nearby waterways with plastic pellets.

ExxonMobil is applying for the tax breaks under Texas’s Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program, which allows a school district to limit the amount a company pays in property taxes over a 10-year period. ExxonMobil says the project would create 300 permanent jobs and 300 contract positions, with a “peak construction workforce” of more than 3,000 people.

The company, which reported a profit of $8.6 billion in the third quarter of 2024, says the project “is in competition with several other locations across the globe,” which are also offering “various levels of government support and tax relief.”