~ Content was originallly posted on the Valley Green Space blog ~
More than 70 people attended the Save RGV from LNG kickoff campaign on Monday, April 11, to learn more about the liquefied natural gas export terminals proposed for the Port of Brownsville and the negative impacts they could bring to the Rio Grande Valley.
Sierra Club member Stefanie Herweck presented a dispatch from Lusby, Maryland where people are fighting the Dominion Cove Point LNG export terminal (currently being litigated by Sierra Club). Stefanie visited the community last month and was able to interview many residents and activists, as well as see the terminal under construction. The Cove Point terminal is being built in a densely populated area, across the street from residential homes, even though the industry standard has required that LNG export terminals be built at least three miles from populated areas. Despite the dangers of long term pollution from the gas-fired generators and catastrophic vapor cloud explosions, the agency in charge of permitting LNG export terminals, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), went ahead and approved Cove Point LNG and put thousands of people at serious risk.
Stefanie made the point that if FERC would rubberstamp such an egregious project, they would certainly ignore the health and safety issues posed by the Port of Brownsville projects. Those proposed export terminals don’t meet the long-time industry standard for remote siting either. Texas LNG plans to build its terminal within two miles of Port Isabel and within three miles of Laguna Vista, putting those towns in the evacuation zone. A three-mile evacuation zone would also close Highway 100, which is the only route off of South Padre Island.
Stefanie said that the health and safety risks of the LNG industrial complex would be unacceptable and urged the audience to fight them.
Afterward, Sierran Bill Berg presented a timeline of the Save RGV from LNG campaign with some great photos of many of our events and victories so far, and LRGV Sierra Club president Jim Chapman went over the regulatory process and discussed the effort to recruit people who could file motions to intervene with FERC. Filing a motion to intervene makes you an official stakeholder. People who may suffer materially from the LNG export terminals and pipeline may file for intervenor status. We encourage people who are concerned about how LNG will impact their businesses or property values to file online with FERC as intervenors. (For more information contact rebekah.hinojosa@sierraclub.org)
Finally, our new organizer Rebekah divided people into groups for a brainstorm about how we can participate in the Earth Day festivities in Brownsville. The consensus that developed was to have a No LNG March. Stay tuned for an invitation for Saturday, April 23!
The campaign kickoff was a great momentum-building experience for everyone involved, and it will be exciting to see what the next stage in the Save RGV from LNG campaign will bring.