One of Our Readers Weighs in on LNG Plants and Clupper
By Diego Garcia III | Editor of The Brownsville Beacon
The LNG debate has not subsided and shows no sign of doing so anytime soon. One of our readers is John Young, a San Benito resident and an active member of SAVE RGV from LNG for the better part of six years. Mr. Young reminds us the fight against LNG is nothing new and has been going on for a while.
Among some of the scarier claims Mr. Young makes is the possibility of odorless, tasteless air pollution seeping in to our bodies and affecting our bloodstreams.
He also mentions working on Cameron County Precinct 1 candidate Donald Clupper's campaign and saying Clupper is in favor of the Big River Steel Mill that would bring jobs to the area without polluting the environment like the LNG plants will. Mr. Young writes:
The City of Port Isabel isn't new to the fight against LNG and isn't just fighting for the environment.
It, 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Protection Agency's and the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality's air quality standards are dangerously out of date and inadequate for protecting our health.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.
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
The LNG debate has not subsided and shows no sign of doing so anytime soon. One of our readers is John Young, a San Benito resident and an active member of SAVE RGV from LNG for the better part of six years. Mr. Young reminds us the fight against LNG is nothing new and has been going on for a while.
Among some of the scarier claims Mr. Young makes is the possibility of odorless, tasteless air pollution seeping in to our bodies and affecting our bloodstreams.
He also mentions working on Cameron County Precinct 1 candidate Donald Clupper's campaign and saying Clupper is in favor of the Big River Steel Mill that would bring jobs to the area without polluting the environment like the LNG plants will. Mr. Young writes:
The City of Port Isabel isn't new to the fight against LNG and isn't just fighting for the environment.
It, 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.
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
John here again. Regarding the three Port of Brownsville Commissioner races: There is no filing fee and no requirement for a petition signed by registered voters. But you do need to be a registered voter to run.
ReplyDeleteSo the price is right.
The time is right as well. Because the Port Isabel legal challenge to the Port of Brownsville Commissioners LNG efforts will get publicity for your campaign. And because South Padre Island, Laguna Vista, and Long Island Village are opposed to LNG here as well.
The time is also right because three Commissioner positions are up for a vote on 05-02-2020.
The candidate filing deadline is 02-11-2020 at 5:00 PM, but apparently no one has filed yet to run against any of the incumbents.
If you're the first to file against one of them, you can choose to run against the weakest of the three. And you'll have an even better chance of winning if you can get a teammate tor run with you against the 2nd weakest incumbent.
If we can get just one new face on the Port Board of Commissioners, it will make a huge difference in how the Port is run. How about someone under the age of 30? How about a woman or two or three? How about someone from a shrimping family?
I just saw where the Mayor of the City of Port Aransas is doing his best to protect his community from the Port of Corpus Christi. The problem it that the Port of Corpus Christi has apparently taken control of the county and the local newspapers. So I've emailed the Mayor of the City of Port Aransas information about Port Isabel's legal challenge to the Port of Brownsville.
Carpe Diem. Seize The Day. (Check out the 1989 movie "Dead Poets Society," https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=zivL4GgPxKg)