Dow lands at Texas Gulf Coast the week of a nuclear milestone and a pollution lawsuit

Dow flew from MBS International Airport in Midland, Michigan, to Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport on June 9, a 2-hour 30-minute hop that landed N892D, the company's Bombardier CRJ-900, at the doorstep of its Seadrift chemical complex. The flight arrived the same week the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for Dow and X-energy's proposed Long Mott Generating Station, an advanced nuclear reactor that would provide steam and electricity to the Seadrift facility, per a Dow press release on May 18 [corporate.dow.com](https://corporate.dow.com/en-us/news/press-releases/nrc-issues-environmental-assessment-with--finding-of-no-signific.html).

The trip also comes as the Texas Attorney General's office pursues a lawsuit against Dow subsidiary Union Carbide, alleging hundreds of water pollution violations at the 4,700-acre complex, including unauthorized discharges of plastic pellets into waterways feeding San Antonio Bay, as reported by the Texas Tribune [texastribune.org](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/18/texas-lawsuit-dow-chemical-plant-pollution-seadrift-paxton/). Separately, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is weighing a Dow permit amendment that would effectively legalize discharges of plastic material from the site, a move environmental groups call unprecedented [texastribune.org](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/02/texas-dow-seadrift-complex-pollution-icn/).

The shuttle pattern is familiar: N892D has made multiple round trips between Midland and the Houston-area airport since May, a route that mirrors Dow's movement of engineering teams between its Michigan headquarters and Gulf Coast manufacturing corridor. This week, those teams are likely balancing a regulatory green light for a nuclear project against a legal deadline and a permit decision that could reshape how plastics waste is managed on the Texas coast.