By Stefanie Herweck
Members of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Group have been helping to organize their communities against three proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. The facilities would refine and liquefy methane so that it condenses and can be loaded onto ships and sold in Europe and Asia. The Sierra Club is fighting the projects because they would require bulldozing thousands of acres of high quality wildlife habitat that U.S. Fish and Wildlife has said is critical for ocelot conservation. Local members also argue that the plants and the proposed route of the LNG tankers are too close to the populated areas and that the communities downwind of the the complex will be subjected to considerable pollution.
National Sierra Club has filed a complaint with the Department of Energy for its failure to consider the cumulative cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions for the 40+ LNG export terminals that have been proposed in the United States.
After many months of heavy lobbying and community pressure by Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club members and other community members, the city governments of Laguna Vista, Port Isabel, and South Padre Island passed resolutions in September against three proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, along with the South Padre Island Business Owners Association and the Port Isabel Economic Development Corporation.
But the biggest victory came when the Point Isabel Independent School District refused to offer one of the LNG companies a tax break under Chapter 313 of the Texas Economic Development Act. This is an unprecedented decision, according to Dick Lavine of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, who follows this issue. While cities and counties take a hit when they offer tax breaks, the taxes a school district gives up under Chapter 313 are made up by the state, and companies may pay districts up to $100 a student in exchange for offering the breaks. Because of the hard work of Sierrans and others in the communities, the Point Isabel ISD board members were convinced that the LNG complex would do greater harm to their students than this money would do good.
Keep up to date on this story and follow the LRGV Group’s blog here and their Facebook page here.
Photo: Larry Ditto. www.larryditto.com. (This JPEG was loaned to the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter for project use. Cannot be copied, given, or sold to anyone without photographer's permission.)