Press Release
Contact: anothergulfispossible@gmail.com
Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas Condemns NextDecade for clearcutting sacred lands for Rio Grande LNG project
Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas received a letter from NextDecade falsely claiming that sacred lands were not harmed during land clearing activities.
October 9, 2023, Brownsville, TX – The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas received a letter dated Sept 25th by mail from the NextDecade company behind the Rio Grande LNG project. The letter falsely claimed that NextDecade’s contractor’s clear-cutting activities did not harm sacred lands and artifacts at the site leased from the Port of Brownsville, TX. The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, who are the original Indigenous people of the region, condemns both NextDecade and the Bechtel company for destroying pristine lands, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorizing the clear-cutting without Tribal consultation.
“We asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and NextDecade to allow us to enter our own lands at the Port to access our sacred artifacts with our archeologists, and they denied us,” said Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. “NextDecade has never bothered to consult with the Tribe about bulldozing land to build the dangerous Rio Grande LNG project. When these fossil fuel corporations destroy the land and dig up our burials, they’re killing Native people all over again. We, and the Rio Grande Valley communities, oppose the LNG companies and the pollution they will bring.”
Since last October, the Bechtel company, contracted by NextDecade, has bulldozed nearly a thousand acres of wetlands, mudflats, and pristine lands to prepare the site for construction of the Rio Grande LNG facility. NextDecade has permission from the FERC to bulldoze land but requires authorization from the FERC commission to construct the Rio Grande LNG gas plant and the Rio Bravo Pipeline at the Port of Brownsville.
NextDecade claims they monitor for historical artifacts or burial grounds as they are bulldozing the land to build the Rio Grande LNG gas plant. The Tribe and community members have called this a blatant conflict of interest and requested their own archeologists to survey the land with Tribal representatives. A local archeologist with the National Park Service (NPS) has shared their concerns with LNG construction and operation activities and the potential for disturbing unexcavated indigenous artifacts. In a letter submitted to the FERC, the NPS states, “If the three [presently two] LNG terminals –proceed there is potential that another critical piece of prehistoric archeological record is lost without gaining much needed insights and understanding of the people who occupied the Rio Grande Delta,” The Rio Grande LNG project is on the same swath of land as “Garcia Pasture,” a historical sacred site with ancestral burial grounds and villages recognized by the World Monuments Fund and the NPS.
“NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG project is environmental racism – they would dump pollution into low-income communities, and the company continues to ignore the Tribe’s requests,” said Bekah Hinojosa with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. “We cannot trust a fossil fuel corporation that stands to profit billions to survey the land for sacred artifacts and burials belonging to the Tribe – that is a blatant conflict of interest”
For nearly a decade, nearby Rio Grande Valley communities and the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe have opposed the Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and Rio Bravo Pipeline projects by filing lawsuits, protesting banks financing the projects, and passing anti-LNG resolutions. The FERC faces several lawsuits for reapproving the LNG projects earlier this year.
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The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas are the original native people from the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas. To learn more about the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, visit http://www.carrizocomecrudonation.com.