By Deborah Contreras
The pristine South Texas coastline is enjoyed by families from across Texas and Northern Mexico. Growing up, my parents and grandparents would travel north from Matamoros to visit the Valley’s beaches every summer. Our family get-togethers were spent cooking food and playing on the white sandy beaches and fresh waters of South Padre Island. It is partly those experiences that give me so much passion about the environmental issues that now threaten our coast and our communities. The communities that shaped me are now under threat by three proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals. Members of my community could be forced to live by a massive export industrial complex that would transform Laguna Madre, a quaint beach community, to a company town.
When I first decided to join the fight against LNG in Laguna Madre, I began volunteering with Save RGV from LNG. The Save RGV from LNG group has become a hard-working movement. The group informs residents about the proposed LNG terminals coming to their communities and people pack Point Isabel school board meetings to hear them. I haven’t seen a movement like this one in all my years living in the Valley. Big companies think they can get away with polluting our communities with sales pitches but Save RGV challenges them every step of the way. Now, I want to do even more to show the real story-- the consequences to our environment, the safety risks for the people living nearby, and the jobs that LNG could actually cost us.
My newest project, “Saving Laguna Madre,” is a four-part web series that amplifies the stories of resistance from the Laguna Madre and Brownsville-area. We interviewed several community members and show the potential cultural, pollution, and health impacts these communities could face if they are forced to live in the shadow of LNG. The first episode will be released on May 25th and every month after that this summer.
Sometimes, I hear people say that they can’t change things or they think they are too young or too old to take on these causes. I want to show others all that they can achieve by engaging with important community issues like this one. This is my contribution to the movement -- sharing important information with our community and telling our story to the rest of the world.
**Director Deborah Contreras has lived in Brownsville, TX all nineteen years of her life. She is a student at Texas Southmost College (TSC), where she studies communications, environmental studies, and teaching. She has been an active member of the Save RGV from LNG movement for the last year.