November 25, 2019
On Thursday November 21, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced federal approvals of three controversial fracked gas export terminals - Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG, Rio Bravo Pipeline, and Annova LNG - proposed for Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Despite today’s approval from FERC, the proposed facilities still do not have all the necessary approvals to begin construction. All three projects still require approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, Texas LNG is still awaiting a Biological Opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and neither Texas LNG nor Annova LNG have been granted air pollution permits from state regulators.
These fracked gas export facilities face massive public opposition in the Rio Grande Valley. The City of South Padre Island, the City of Port Isabel, the Town of Laguna Vista, Long Island Village, the Laguna Madre Water District, the Point Isabel School District, and the South Padre Island Business Owners Association have all expressed concern or formal opposition to LNG because of the threat of increased pollution and damage to the region’s thriving tourism industry. The projects also face growing opposition from the financial sector. Major international bank BNP Paribas announced in 2017 that it will not finance the proposed Texas LNG terminal or any LNG facilities, and other banks are under pressure to follow suit.
“It’s disappointing that FERC failed to recognize that these proposed fracked gas facilities would be a disaster for the Rio Grande Valley, but today’s approval is far from the end of the fight,” said Sierra Club Brownsville Organizer Rebekah Hinojosa. “Our communities are united in opposition to these dirty, dangerous projects, and we will continue to pursue all avenues - from the courts to pressuring financial institutions - to ensure they are never built.”
“Our communities have been fighting the three LNG companies for years because we don't want a future with fossil fuel operations that will scar the landscape, threaten public safety with explosions, and hurt the local economy,” said Terrie Nuñez from Laguna Vista, TX. “People travel from across Texas and Mexico to experience our clean beach. As a local business owner, I'm worried about our future if the LNG companies build here."
On November 20, just the day before FERC's approval, two communities that would be impacted by the proposed Texas LNG fracked gas project -- City of Port Isabel and Laguna Heights-- attended the first day of a three-day contested case hearing to challenge the company’s air permit request from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Environmental organizations, the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe, and residents from the Rio Grande Valley area attended the hearing to watch and show support for the communities challenging the air permit. During the hearing, there was a rally featuring several speakers from the RGV area, including: Josette Cruz, anti-LNG activist and resident of Brownsville, TX; Juan Mancias, Chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas; and Rebekah Hinojosa, Sierra Club Organizer.
Residents of the Rio Grande Valley have been fighting for years against a trio of proposed fracked gas facilities: Texas LNG, Annova LNG, and Rio Grande LNG and the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline. The construction of the Texas LNG project and the other two LNG terminals would bulldoze pristine lands near South Padre Island to build flammable pipelines, storage tanks, and smoking flare stacks or ground flares that would pollute nearby communities and irreparably destroy the habitat of the endangered ocelot.
“Residents from Port Isabel, Long Island Village, Laguna Heights and across the Rio Grande Valley have made it clear they don't want to breathe toxic air pollution from these fracked gas terminals. TCEQ needs to listen,” said Rebekah Hinojosa, Brownsville Sierra Club Organizer.
Texas LNG would destroy a federally recognized indigenous historical site called “Garcia Pasture” with burial grounds and village remains that are sacred to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe was not consulted about these projects. Due to local efforts, opposition to LNG in the RGV has reached three continents and convinced the major international bank BNP Paribas to drop its support for the Texas LNG project.
“The pristine lands that Texas LNG plans to destroy to build the polluting fracked gas operation has ancient burial grounds and a village remains that is federally recognized by the National Park Service and is sacred to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe." said Juan Mancias, Chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. "Texas LNG nor the other two LNG projects have never consulted with us; this is an act of environmental racism. The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe were the original people of these lands."