For nearly a decade, Rio Grande Valley organizations and residents have successfully delayed the Rio Grande liquefied natural gas and Texas LNG facilities from breaking ground on native wildlife habitats and an indigenous historic site. They stopped the Annova LNG project proposed for the Port of Brownsville and along Texas Highway 48. But the work to stop LNG in the RGV is far from over.
If built, Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG would construct massive fossil fuel industrial structures on our coastline unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the RGV, but are unfortunately found in Corpus Christi and Houston. LNG facilities’ processes would include fiery flare stacks and ground flares and include storage tanks more than 15 stories tall near the Port Isabel H-E-B. The facilities also require the development of massive pipelines carrying flammable gas that could force an evacuation in the event of a leak, explosion or other catastrophe. LNG tanker ships approximately three football fields long carrying hazardous cargo would congest the ship channel that is essential for shrimpers, fishing guides and dolphin watch tours, and could kill sea turtles among other marine life.
Altogether, these LNG facilities would destroy almost 2,000 acres of pristine coastline and wetlands that include Garcia Pasture, a historic indigenous site sacred to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and is recognized by the National Park Service. Garcia Pasture hosts sacred burial grounds, art, village ruins and diverse wildlife that are all culturally and historically significant to the tribe, and something this precious should not be destroyed to make room for polluting industry.
The LNG facilities would release toxic pollution into the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, the Shrimp Basin and communities including Port Isabel, Brownsville, South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, Long Island Village and Laguna Heights. These pollutants harm respiratory health and could detrimentally affect developing fetuses and disproportionately impact low-income community members who have inadequate access to health care. It’s clear that these companies will do much more harm than good.
This is why the community is opposed to LNG. Recently, the Point Isabel Independent School District voted down a tax break application for Texas LNG that would have allowed the company to avoid paying millions of taxes to the district. This was the third time PIISD voted against LNG. Every RGV community that would be forced to live next door to these gas plants has passed resolutions opposing LNG. They include South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, Long Island Village and Port Isabel, and even the Laguna Madre water district refuses water for the LNG industrial operations.
So why do our local elected officials keep selling us out to polluting industries? For example, the Port of Brownsville commissioners recently hosted a news conference with Rio Grande LNG to celebrate their financing to increase the depth of the ship channel to allow for more industrial development at the expense of the shrimp industry. A local Brownsville shrimper told us that if there’s a pollution leak from LNG into the ship channel waters where the shrimp lay their eggs, then the shrimp would be dead out in the bay where shrimpers toss their nets.
So what’s next for LNG and the RGV? Rio Grande LNG is close to moving forward with their plans to build at the port. The project has secured a contract with ExxonMobil, a company that is infamous for spills and climate change disinformation. Texas LNG is facing significant delays and does not have any contracts to export the gas. These projects are also facing legal action. The Army Corps of Engineers is facing a lawsuit from the Sierra Club because of the destruction that the Rio Grande LNG project would have to our wetlands. Thanks to a lawsuit victory, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has to reevaluate the environmental threats of these LNG projects.
This gas is not for us. It will be shipped overseas and we will be left with expensive gas bills, pollution and destruction of our environment. We must make it clear that it is high time to put people over profits. Cameron County needs to stop trying to sacrifice us to the polluting gas industry and prioritize us over corporate profit.
Emma Guevara of Brownsville is with the Sierra Club. Josette Hinojosa of Brownsville is with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. Christopher Basaldu of Brownsville is with the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. Juan Mancias is tribal chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. Yolanda Garza-Birdwell lives in Laguna Vista.
