Forces Beginning to Align Against LNG Projects at the Port: Clupper, Port Isabel, Et al.
By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission handed down their decision late last year — the three companies wanting to construct liquefied natural gas pipelines and terminals at the Port of Brownsville had the green light to continue with the process to begin constructing their infrastructure. The next step is for the companies to make their final investment decision (FID) in regards to physically beginning to build the plants and pipelines. Industry experts believed the project could have gotten off the ground as early as the first quarter of this year.
The port is a huge moneymaker for the city and the state, as a whole. Statistics show the Port of Brownsville as the second ranked port for the value of exports and has been ranked third of almost 300 foreign trade zones in the United States. Studies also show over 50,000 jobs are either directly or indirectly supported by the port.
The LNG plants were a big feather in the cap of the Brownsville Navigation District and the Port of Brownsville. These plants were supposed to create thousands of jobs in our economically starved region.
In October of last year, the Cameron County Commissioners voted for a tax abatement for Anova LNG. The three commissioners voting for the abatement cited economic growth and job creation as the reasons behind their support of the tax abatement.
County Commissioner David Garza, along with County Judge Eddie Treviño, voted against the tax abatement. In an article written by The Brownsville Herald's Nubia Reyna, Garza is quoted as saying, “I am not against economic development but responsible stewardship. I said ‘OK, guys, throw out at least an environmental stewardship agreement, please, into this, where you would give Cameron County an X amount of dollars for the life of this agreement so that we can go and do projects that will improve and litigate some of the issues that we have with the projects that are being done’...Guess what? ‘We don’t care about your environment...we don’t care about Cameron County all we want is your tax dollars’.”
In addition to Commissioner Garza, there are others who are not pleased with these LNG companies and the decision of the Cameron County Commissioners. Several protesters have consistently attended county meetings to warn of the dangers LNG plants pose to the community. The local chapter of the Sierra Club has been very vocal about the negative impact these natural gas pipelines will have on local businesses, fish and wildlife preserves, and to the waters off the coast.
In addition to the Sierra Club, an organization called SAVE RGV from LNG has been leading the charge against building these plants. Their website has several resources and pieces of information that detail what happens when a community builds these LNG pipelines. Their Facebook page also keeps the community updated with meeting times and links to articles talking about industrial accidents linked to LNG plants.
At least one local political candidate has made the anti-LNG stance the centerpiece of his platform. Donald Clupper, a retired high school teacher, is challenging Cameron County Precinct 1 Commissioner, Sofia Benavides in the upcoming election. His political signage openly displays his distaste for LNG. Clupper is hoping his rabid anti-LNG stance is able to convince voters to see past his abrasive, confrontational, and hostile personality, giving him more votes than the incredibly popular incumbent.
Clupper and his fist-shaking tirades aside, a municipality has joined the fight against the LNG companies. Juan Montoya, publisher of El Rrun Rrun, reported earlier today Port Isabel, Mayor J.J. Zamora, and Commissioner Mario Cantu have filed a motion preventing any LNG infrastructure from being build and operated within the confines of their city.
Montoya writes, "The plaintiffs claim that if the port is allowed to construct three LNG terminals and processing plants 'PI and its inhabitants shall sustain injury and damages to their respective property within the city limits of PI and shall sustain injury and damages to their air, soil, food, and water quality which shall affect the health, safety and welfare of PI’s inhabitants.'"
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission handed down their decision late last year — the three companies wanting to construct liquefied natural gas pipelines and terminals at the Port of Brownsville had the green light to continue with the process to begin constructing their infrastructure. The next step is for the companies to make their final investment decision (FID) in regards to physically beginning to build the plants and pipelines. Industry experts believed the project could have gotten off the ground as early as the first quarter of this year.
The port is a huge moneymaker for the city and the state, as a whole. Statistics show the Port of Brownsville as the second ranked port for the value of exports and has been ranked third of almost 300 foreign trade zones in the United States. Studies also show over 50,000 jobs are either directly or indirectly supported by the port.
The LNG plants were a big feather in the cap of the Brownsville Navigation District and the Port of Brownsville. These plants were supposed to create thousands of jobs in our economically starved region.
In October of last year, the Cameron County Commissioners voted for a tax abatement for Anova LNG. The three commissioners voting for the abatement cited economic growth and job creation as the reasons behind their support of the tax abatement.
County Commissioner David Garza, along with County Judge Eddie Treviño, voted against the tax abatement. In an article written by The Brownsville Herald's Nubia Reyna, Garza is quoted as saying, “I am not against economic development but responsible stewardship. I said ‘OK, guys, throw out at least an environmental stewardship agreement, please, into this, where you would give Cameron County an X amount of dollars for the life of this agreement so that we can go and do projects that will improve and litigate some of the issues that we have with the projects that are being done’...Guess what? ‘We don’t care about your environment...we don’t care about Cameron County all we want is your tax dollars’.”
In addition to Commissioner Garza, there are others who are not pleased with these LNG companies and the decision of the Cameron County Commissioners. Several protesters have consistently attended county meetings to warn of the dangers LNG plants pose to the community. The local chapter of the Sierra Club has been very vocal about the negative impact these natural gas pipelines will have on local businesses, fish and wildlife preserves, and to the waters off the coast.
In addition to the Sierra Club, an organization called SAVE RGV from LNG has been leading the charge against building these plants. Their website has several resources and pieces of information that detail what happens when a community builds these LNG pipelines. Their Facebook page also keeps the community updated with meeting times and links to articles talking about industrial accidents linked to LNG plants.
At least one local political candidate has made the anti-LNG stance the centerpiece of his platform. Donald Clupper, a retired high school teacher, is challenging Cameron County Precinct 1 Commissioner, Sofia Benavides in the upcoming election. His political signage openly displays his distaste for LNG. Clupper is hoping his rabid anti-LNG stance is able to convince voters to see past his abrasive, confrontational, and hostile personality, giving him more votes than the incredibly popular incumbent.
Clupper and his fist-shaking tirades aside, a municipality has joined the fight against the LNG companies. Juan Montoya, publisher of El Rrun Rrun, reported earlier today Port Isabel, Mayor J.J. Zamora, and Commissioner Mario Cantu have filed a motion preventing any LNG infrastructure from being build and operated within the confines of their city.
Montoya writes, "The plaintiffs claim that if the port is allowed to construct three LNG terminals and processing plants 'PI and its inhabitants shall sustain injury and damages to their respective property within the city limits of PI and shall sustain injury and damages to their air, soil, food, and water quality which shall affect the health, safety and welfare of PI’s inhabitants.'"
The anti-LNG movement has a point. While I am all for economic development, and I would absolutely like for hundreds of people to have jobs that pay $70,000 a year, I think the negative impact to our environment far outweighs the positive effect of any jobs these companies might bring.
Port Isabel and South Padre Island do not look like Corpus Christi. I don't know if tourists would like to see pipeline infrastructure along the route to Port Isabel. I don't know how well that infrastructure would blend in with the natural landscape. I wonder how the Caracara Trails would look with cold metal pipes intersecting the hike and bike lanes.
I don't have all the answers. I don't even know if I've made up my mind completely. I have never been confused with an environmentalist, but the environmentalists are making a compelling case. I certainly don't want to see the environment destroyed.
I can't definitively say it will be destroyed, but if these LNG companies are not careful, we could find out exactly just how dangerous these pipelines can be.
The question has to be this simple: What good is growing one section of the economy when the tourism and ecotourism industries might suffer immensely?
Is Brownsville and Cameron County cutting off its nose to spite its face?
"Donald Clupper, a retired high school teacher, is …………."
ReplyDeleteClupper may be retired but he was not much of a high school teacher. Why is this community willing to accept another political candidate similar to ex-board of trustee Castro in disguise? It is time for our community to step up and declare the need for strong community leaders to lead our community.
I was not condoning, nor am I endorsing, what Donald Clupper is, or stands for. I was simply reporting on Clupper's one-item platform. I am not saying it isn't a good idea to be anti-LNG. I must admit, at first, I thought LNG plants would be a good thing for the area since the companies have the ability to bring several jobs to the community. However, the more research and reporting I do, the more I see the negative impacts to the environment outweigh any positive economic effects LNG may have on the community.
DeleteMaybe you could provide a list of who you think would be good strong community leaders?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, The beacon could start a discussion thread where people, hopefully serious minded and not dumb trolls being silly, could name people they think should take on leadership roles in our community and why.
By all means, feel free to start the conversation. Who do you think would be a strong community leader?
DeleteI really don't want to start throwing out names because I don't want people to think I am in the business of endorsing political candidates. If I ever compliment someone or think someone would be a good idea for office is because I have interacted with them personally or I think their brand of politics may be what the city needs. I highly doubt you will ever see any political ads or anything else on this site. I have no plans to monetize the blog.
If I criticize politicians, I do so because I think they have failed to serve the community in the capacity for which they were chosen. It is never personal, and I try to stay away from silly attacks and insults.
While I try to avoid censoring the comments on these threads, I try to filter out the stupid or inappropriate comments. I recently had to avoid a series of personal attacks on one of my articles that were laced with profanity and inappropriate comments. Things like that don't bring any sort of substantive discussion to the proceedings.
As I mentioned, please feel free to suggest any names of any people you think would be good, strong community leaders. I have absolutely no problem with having that discussion with you, or any of my other readers.
The City of Port Isabel isn't new to the fight against LNG and isn't just fighting for the environment.
ReplyDeleteIt, along with South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, and Long Island Village passed resolutions against LNG back in 2015. It along with South Padre Island and Laguna vista joined Sierra Club's 12-13-2019 challenges to the permits the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued to Rio Grande LNG, Annova LNG, and Texas LNG on 11-22-2019. FERC is suppose to have 5 Commissioners but is now down to only 3 Commissioners and the vote to issue the permits was 2 to 1 (Commissioner Glick opposing the permits).
Port Isabel is concerned about the air pollution the LNG operations will generate to turn natural gas into Liquefied Natural Gas. This air pollution will not just hurt the environment in general but will contaminate the local food chain -- including the crops and food grown locally as well as all the things the birds and other wildlife eat around here. The pollution will hurt our health and our local tourist economy. The Caracara hike and bike trails will be only as healthy as the air folks will breathe along the trails etc.
A lot of the air pollution will not be visible and will have no odor but will be able to enter our bloodstreams through our lungs. Some of it can even cross the placenta, causing birth defects and early death before age one due to lung problems. The Environmental Protection Agency's and the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality's air quality standards are dangerously out of date and inadequate for protecting our health.
I've met Donald Clupper and worked some on his campaign. He's not out for his personal gain in his race against Benavides for Cameron County Commissioner Pct 1. He wants the Big River Steel Mill at the Port of Brownsville because it won't pollute our air the way LNG projects will but will provide really more better jobs that the LNG prjects really have to offer. Check him out at https://www.facebook.com/groups/488898331608288/ and at https://www.facebook.com/donald.clupper.
There's still time to file to run for one of the three Port of Brownsville Commissioner positions up for a vote 05-02-2020. The filing deadline is 02-14-2020 at 5 pm. You have to be at least 18, have to have lived in Texas for the last 12 months, have to have lived in the Brownsville Navigation District for the last 6 months, and have to care about how the Port of Brownsville is run for the good of all who live in the district, in Cameron County, and in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. For information on who can run, how to file, how to appoint a campaign manager, and how to file a campaign finance report, go to https://www.portofbrownsville.com/commission/bnd-election/. If you have any questions about filing, contact Margie Recio at the Port of Brownsville Administrative Building, 1801 Foust Road, Brownsville, TX 78521, (956) 831-4592, mrecio@portofbrownsville.com
Full disclosure: I've been an active member of SAVE RGV from LNG since May 2014
https://www.facebook.com/saveRGVfromLNG/)
John Young, MS (Psychology), MSW (Social Work), Retired
San Benito TX
Your comment merits being placed on the main page. I will be creating a post with your response. As I mentioned earlier in another comment, the more I start looking in to this issue, the more I am starting to think these LNG plants will end up doing more harm than good.
DeleteI do not question Clupper's position on the issue, I question his methods. I have conversed with him on more than one occasion, and it is not his intelligence, or his stance on the issues, that concerns me. It is his delivery and his overall disposition. I can't see voting for someone who does not listen to you when you're trying to make a point and raising his voice over yours in order to get his point across. Being civil and courteous goes a long way.
Total agree with your assessment of Mr. Clupper's overall disposition. It is not your personal opinion of Mr. Clupper but a realistic evaluation of his personal behavior. In defense of Mr. Clupper, he is not a bad individual who is looking for personal gain but he is not the right individual to lead our community in the decision making process.
Delete