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Take an in-depth take a look at Canary’s go to to the Texas Gulf Coast, the place main liquefied pure fuel initiatives are progressing — and activists are working to oppose them.
This week, Canary Media reported from the frontlines of America’s ongoing battle over exports of liquefied pure fuel, or LNG. In South Texas, builders are in search of to construct two hulking LNG export terminals and two accompanying fuel pipelines close to the Gulf of Mexico — alongside one of many final remaining stretches of Texas shoreline that’s free from main oil and fuel improvement. Building on one of many terminals, the $18.4 billion Rio Grande LNG mission, is already underway.
Whereas officers in Cameron County and the Port of Brownsville again the initiatives and their promise of financial advantages, many residents say they worry the brand new LNG infrastructure — and all of the anticipated environmental impacts — will do extra hurt than good for the Rio Grande Valley and its native nature-based economic system. Indigenous leaders, environmental teams and group members are combating on a number of fronts to attempt to cease the fossil-fuel initiatives from occurring or forestall building from advancing any additional.
Canary Media’s Maria Gallucci and freelance photojournalist Verónica Gabriela Cárdenas just lately visited the South Texas coast to report the story. Listed here are some scenes from their journeys. (Learn the total function story right here.)
The Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas’ ancestral lands span the delta area the place the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. Lately, the tribe has begun buying properties within the space to attempt to block the event of the proposed Rio Bravo fuel pipeline. Tribal members describe their technique as a “landback,” or returning land to the stewardship of Indigenous peoples.
Bekah Hinojosa is a group organizer in Brownsville who’s working to cease the buildout of LNG export initiatives within the Rio Grande Valley — an space the place the overwhelming majority of individuals establish as Hispanic or Latino and which has a number of the nation’s highest charges of poverty and unemployment.
A 2.4-mile-long causeway connects Port Isabel on the mainland to South Padre Island. The barrier island attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly seeking to observe wildlife or benefit from the seashores within the southeasternmost attain of Texas.
White and brown birds perch among the many mangroves. The Gulf Coast ecosystem in South Texas offers important habitat for a lot of waterfowl and migratory birds, in addition to endangered species corresponding to ocelots and inexperienced sea turtles.
Building on the Rio Grande LNG export terminal is seen from the Brownsville Ship Channel in early February 2024. If accomplished as deliberate, the $18.4 billion mission will probably be one of many largest of its sort in the USA.
NextDecade, the mission’s developer, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Rio Grande LNG mission in October 2023. Matt Schatzman, the corporate’s chairman and CEO, mentioned he hoped the power would go away “a long-lasting legacy” on the Rio Grande Valley.
A bottlenose dolphin chases the waves within the Brownsville Ship Channel. Lots of of dolphins dwell within the hypersaline waters surrounding the space.
Rio Grande LNG is about to span almost 1,000 acres alongside the Brownsville Ship Channel. Subsequent door, on a 625-acre stretch of black mangrove, the developer Glenfarne Group is planning to construct one other export terminal, known as Texas LNG.
The Rio Grande LNG terminal is predicted to be a main potential supply of health-harming air air pollution. Along with the Texas LNG terminal and associated fuel pipelines, the cumulative impacts on air high quality could possibly be vital, consultants say.
Emma Guevara, the Sierra Membership’s Brownsville organizer, has a message for fossil-fuel corporations: “Please don’t come into our already very marginalized group and attempt to play on this place.”
The historic Port Isabel Lighthouse is a standard draw for guests to the Texas Gulf Coast. Neighborhood leaders say the pure surroundings, not fossil-fuel improvement, ought to stay the area’s primary financial engine.
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