For everyone except Next Decade shareholders, and denialists who believe massive petrochemical industrialization in the Rio Grande Valley is a good thing, today is a sad day.
Next Decade has announced it has secured funding for its Rio Grande Liquified Natural Gas terminal, adjacent to the City of Port Isabel, and is now ready to begin construction.
Save RGV has adamantly opposed this project since 2014. That opposition has not waned. Now more than ever, we stand by our contention that this will be the largest stationary source of air pollution in the Rio Grande Valley, and will pose more risk of fires and explosions than our communities have ever been subjected to in the history of the RGV.
For the next 5-7 years of construction, this terminal will convert two miles of untouched and undeveloped natural brush, prairie, wetlands, marine nursery and habitat into concrete, steel, storage landscapes for twelve-story methane ground tanks, jet engine compressors, 24/7 methane flare stacks, lights, and noise.
Once operational, it will convert our ship channel, Laguna Madre, and Gulf into a constant ingress and egress of methane loaded tankers headed to foreign ports, which in turn will significantly harm our nature, fishing, and beach tourism. It will spew hundreds of tons of carbon into our atmosphere for the next 30-50 years.
We have once again become one more sacrifice zone for the petrochemical industry.
Save RGV will continue to fight for our health, our safety, our natural resources, and our climate.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Save RGV, a Texas non-profit corporation that advocates for environmental justice and sustainability and the health and well-being of the Rio Grande Valley Community. The group also promotes the conservation and protection of wildlife habitat and the natural areas of the Rio GrandeValley, including by defending the public’s right to access State beaches. The above guest column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with the permission of the authors. Save RGV can be reached by email via: jimchapmanrgv@gmail.com.
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