FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 30, 2023
Contact: Bekah Hinojosa, bekahbot@gmail.com or (956) 975-6634
FERC Commissioners ignore community concerns, reaffirm Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG, and Rio Bravo Pipeline
Washington D.C. – On Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to reaffirm all three proposed fracked gas projects from the September open meeting: Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG, and the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline at the Port of Brownsville, TX.
Despite significant public opposition, including more than 40 organizations who co-signed a letter and the 60 individuals who sent comments of opposition to the projects, the commission voted 3-1 to allow the three projects to move forward. Notably, only Commissioner Allison Clements dissented. For years, FERC has blatantly ignored the environmental justice and wildlife concerns raised by several environmental and community groups such as the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Sierra Club, and the Vecinos para el bienestar de la comunidad costera, and community members. FERC faces legal actions filed this year following their approval for these LNG projects in April.
Community organizations and the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas have made it abundantly clear that they will not back down to stop these dangerous gas projects that threaten their pristine lands and public health. As LNG companies like NextDecade and Enbridge begin staging equipment on the lands, community members have started staging their acts of opposition. The Tribe recently purchased nearly a dozen acres of land along the proposed route of Enbridge’s Rio Bravo Pipeline and nearby the Texas LNG and Rio Grande LNG sites.
In response, Juan Mancias, Tribal Chairman for the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe, issued the following statement:
“FERC and the LNG companies do not have the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe’s consent to bulldoze sacred lands to build these cancer-causing facilities. We are fighting back against the Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and Rio Bravo Pipeline projects with ‘Land Back.’ More than a dozen acres of land have been returned to our Tribe near the LNG sites and along the pipeline route, where we will stage our opposition to these dangerous projects and build homes and plant native trees. Returning land to the Tribe creates more jobs than any LNG project and will build a healthy community, unlike the LNG companies that will destroy and pollute our land and people. We choose to be self-determining. ”
In response, Bekah Hinojosa, based in Brownsville and with Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative, issued the following statement:
“I’ve been working with my community for nearly a decade to stop the Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, and Rio Bravo Pipeline projects from destroying the Rio Grande Valley. We’ve witnessed FERC ignore our community’s opposition and environmental justice concerns and instead do everything possible to help a billion-dollar fossil fuel corporation.”
In response, Christopher Basaldú, PhD, a member of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, issued the following statement:
“FERC wants to kill as many people as it can by rubber stamping LNG projects all over the place. They put these gas export facilities in poor communities and places that are majority people of color. FERC is approving and facilitating environmental racism and continuing America’s long history of Native genocide by certifying LNG projects on sacred native lands, by digging up our ancestors who should be allowed to rest, and by promoting pollution which will damage our communities for generations to come. LNG projects will only add to carbon emissions and climate catastrophe in the age of global boiling.”
In response, Gloria Thomas, a resident of Brownsville and member of South Texas Environmental Justice Network, issued the following statement:
“FERC is siding with corporations instead of protecting the environment. While FERC continues to approve these projects for the sake of profits, the people who live near these projects will experience the effects, like bad air and quality, the threat of explosion, and destruction of the last remaining areas of wildlife.The economic benefit that LNG companies claim to do not benefit the local economy. Approving this pipeline, regardless of whatever modifications are proposed, is the worst thing to do if you care about the environment or our livelihoods at all.”
In response, Emma Guevara, a lifelong resident of Brownsville and member of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, issued the following statement:
“FERC has refused time and time again to listen to directly impacted residents of the community and has refused to acknowledge how deadly and destructive these projects are. Our community is already under attack in so many other ways. Approving facilities that will pose dangerous explosion risks and poison our air and water is an act of violence. These projects will only continue to further marginalize our community while contributing even more to the climate catastrophe.”
Background: For nearly a decade, residents and organizations from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas have resisted the construction and operations of three proposed fracked gas projects: Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG, and the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline. If built, these projects would decimate the sacred native lands of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, the wildlife habitat at the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge, and pollute low-income communities of color.
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