September 2, 2016
On Wednesday, August 31, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley entered in to a partnership with Rio Grande LNG, LLC., the company which wants to build the largest of the proposed LNG export terminals near Port Isabel, Texas. The partnership would reportedly support STEM education at the university.
The agreement has dismayed some UTRGV students who are concerned about LNG would mean for the Valley. If built, the Rio Grande LNG export terminal would be the largest single source of air pollution in Cameron County, according to its expected emissions. Its construction would require filling in hundreds of acres of wetlands in an area that is critical habitat for the endangered ocelot and Aplomado falcon. There are also concerns that the view of the industrial landscape and associated pollution could threaten the Valley’s beach and nature tourism industries.
At UTRGV, Psychology major Marisol Cervantes can’t believe that the university made the agreement in the light of community opposition: “So many people and even whole towns like Port Isabel and South Padre Island are opposed to these projects. To know that UTRGV supports LNG and does not care about the common concerns makes me sad. As a student attending, I feel that UTRGV has a long way to go when it comes to both being environmentally-conscious and responding to the needs of the community. This is definitely a step in the wrong direction for my school.”
Anxiety about climate change fuels some of the students’ outrage. Because LNG export terminals and their associated compressors vent methane and carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere, Rio Grande LNG would also be the largest polluter of greenhouse gases in the county.
Climate change may be one of the biggest threats facing the students that UTRGV serves, as the Rio Grande Valley could be subject to many of the worst impacts of climate change: extreme heat and drought, as well as stronger tropical storms, flooding and sea level rise. The Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club’s Jim Chapman summed it up: “If UTRGV wants to help students they should be training them in the renewable energy industry and in fields which work toward climate resilience and mitigation, not sticking their heads in the sand about climate change and accepting funds from the natural gas industry which recently surpassed coal as the top greenhouse gas polluter.”
Rose Ouderkirk, an accounting student at the University said, “I’m utterly disgusted. A university’s job is to prepare students for the future. But it’s obvious that there just is no future in the fossil fuel industry. It has to die and be replaced by clean, renewable energy if we are going to stop carbon pollution and keep our planet livable. Why is my university partnering with an industry that belongs in the past? What are students supposed to learn from this that will help them get the jobs of the future?”
The Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club and Save RGV from LNG are urging students and residents alike to contact President Guy Bailey's office at (956) 882-8201 and voice their disapproval of this agreement.