In a new corporate presentation, the company behind the Rio Grande LNG export facility acknowledged yet another delay to the proposed fracked gas export facility. Originally expected by late 2019, NextDecade now plans to make a final investment decision for the project in the second half of this year.
If built, Rio Grande LNG and the associated Rio Bravo pipeline would pollute low-income and Latinx communities of the Rio Grande Valley region, harm the local shrimping and fishing economy, irreparably damage federal wildlife refuges, threaten numerous endangered species, and destroy pristine lands sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas. The project faces significant local opposition, as well as ongoing legal challenges including a recently filed lawsuit challenging a Clean Water Act permit for the facility, as well as a court ruling last summer that forced federal regulators to redo their analysis of Rio Grande LNG’s climate and environmental justice impacts.
In response, Sierra Club Brownsville Organizer Emma Guevara released the following statement:
“Rio Grande LNG and the other fracked gas export facilities proposed for the Gulf Coast would devastate our local economy, subject our families to dangerous pollution, and worsen the climate crisis. These LNG projects are on shaky ground, both legally and financially, and the opposition to gas exports isn’t going anywhere. Pushing off their final investment decision by yet another year is only delaying the inevitable. We will continue to fight to ensure that this project is never built. NextDecade should accept reality and cancel this disastrous project once and for all.”