Courtney Naquin, courtney.naquin@sierraclub.org
Brownsville, TX - Today, Sierra Club and South Texas community members delivered over 400 public comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding the agency’s re-do of their environmental justice analysis of two fracked gas LNG export terminals, Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG, proposed for construction in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. The Sierra Club, together with the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, on behalf of their clients Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera, and other organizations, submitted technical comments for Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG to urge FERC to cancel these projects for being significant threats to environmental justice, as their pollution impacts will disproportionately impact low-income and majority Latinx and Spanish speaking communities.
FERC’s re-do of their environmental justice analysis for Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG is a result of a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club, the city of Port Isabel, and "Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera," a group of local residents from Laguna Heights. Despite these LNG projects facing consistent vocal opposition from local communities, FERC announced that it has granted Rio Grande LNG an extension yesterday morning. Rio Grande LNG has struggled to secure financing and line up customers, causing a continued delay in the project.
Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG pose serious threats to the Rio Grande Valley’s public health as they would be the region’s biggest polluters. Together, they would release harmful pollution such as cancer-causing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter, which cause respiratory problems, trigger and worsen asthma and cardiovascular conditions.
Additionally, these LNG facilities will destroy sacred sites belonging to the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas, the original Indigenous people of the Rio Grande Valley. If built, Texas LNG would destroy Garcia Pasture, a Carrizo Comecrduo burial ground that is recognized by the World Heritage Fund. The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe has been vocally opposed to LNG export facilities.
In April this year, FERC announced a new commitment to incorporating environmental justice and equity issues into their decision making regarding big polluting projects, such as fracked gas export terminals. Their statement says the agency “must meet its responsibility to ensure [their] decisions do not unfairly impact historically marginalized communities.”
“We will never give the FERC consent to permit Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, to build these polluting disasters on our sacred lands. The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe calls for FERC to cancel the LNGs immediately,” said Juan Mancias, Tribal Chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. “Forcing our people to live with the threat of pollution in the air they breathe and in the waters where they fish is environmental racism.”
“Granting Rio Grande LNG an extension while the facility is under review as an environmental justice threat is senseless. FERC needs to stop approving these massive polluting projects and recognize that there’s simply no way for any polluting facility to be constructed in the Rio Grande Valley without being an environmental justice issue,” said Emma Guevara, Brownsville Organizer with Sierra Club. “The Rio Grande Valley has a large immigrant population, and our communities are predominantly Brown, Latinx and Spanish speaking, and many are low-income. And with a healthcare system as broken and inaccessible as ours, we cannot allow such massive polluters to enter our communities and wreck our health. If FERC is true to their word about taking environmental justice seriously, then they must listen to our communities and finally stop Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG.”
Read our report for more background about these LNG facilities' significant negative impacts on the Rio Grande Valley.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.