Those who have driven to South Padre Island recently can't help but notice the massive construction through the wetlands of the Brownsville Navigation District as the 48-inch pipeline snakes its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
This unprecedented use of public lands for this potentially environmentally dangerous project has been decried in many forums. These protests, in conjunction with the outcry against the construction of the LNG plants in the Port of Brownsville has set off a heated dispute between those who welcome the plants as a way to promote manufacturing and jobs and those who point to the potential for pollution and damage to the wetlands and hypersaline lagunas that serve as nurseries and refuge for many gamefish, endangered wildlife and shellfish like shrimp and other species.
That, in turn, has created a political chasm between those who see the protests as a movement by retirees and residents living in communities along the coastline (Laguna Vista, SPI, etc.) in conflict with people in the county who see the plants as a potential for employment and economic development.
And politicians are scurrying to define their stands on the issue, much as did others on the west side of Brownsville for the West Rail Road/Trail. Sides have been drawn, and many political figures have been identified with either side. And just as there have been recriminations at the voting booth, so it has been when it comes to the LNGs.
The first line of demarcation was when the Brownsville Navigation District commissioners approved the leasing of huge tracts of land for at least five LNG companies who plunked down their money to rent the land for their future plants. Their justification was that if the companies dotted all their "I"s and crossed all their "T"s with the proper environmental state and federal agencies, there was little legal justification they could use to keep them out.
Once the approval had been given, their contractual obligations to rent them the properties could not be withdrawn on pain of costly litigation that could potentially cost the port (and taxpayers) millions. In other words, the horse was out of the barn and could not be put back. That consideration is offset by environmental and other single-issue groups who will not back off from their opinion that anyone who as much as considers approving them plants or other economic incentives and tax abatements for the plants doesn't belong in public office.
Take the county commissioners' approval of $373,100,000. in tax abatements for Rio Grande LNG last October. The actual investment is actually $15.7 billion dollars that will essentially almost double the county’s current tax base. The four county commissioners who voted for the agreement between the company and the port, the state , and the county cited economic development, infrastructure improvements, and an estimated 5,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs created if the export terminal gets built at the Port of Brownsville.
Under the terms of the agreement, county officials say they have been guaranteed a minimum of 35 percent of construction and permanent jobs for local residents. If this does not happen, the company will be penalized with payments for missing the target on this benchmark. The company had first offered 20 percent of the those jobs to local residents, but relented and increased the percentage to 35 to acquire the commissioners' votes.
The commissioners who voted to approve the deal were Sofia Benavides, Alex Dominguez, Davbid Garza and Gus Ruiz. County Judge Eddie Treviño voted not to approve it.
Now, the judge knew that the four votes would be there in support of the agreement so his "no" vote would not matter. And the political benefit from denying the vote in the upcoming elections in November would potentially help him in the race against Republican county judge candidate Carlos Cascos.
Will it translate into the deciding edge Treviño needs to go win?
He has plenty of money, according to his campaign reports. But just as the West Trail advocates have found out, the deal between the city and the county for the abandoned railroad right-of-way also includes plans for a road, something that candidates who went before them – including Treviño – assured them they would not support. Once the realpolitik set in, however, all deals were off. It takes money to run for office and few candidates turn down money for their races.
If we are to deal with this issue with our eyes wide open, then we should also question why the judge accepts campaign contributions from the law firm representing one of the LNGs. According to reports, attorney Keith Uhles, of Royston Rayzor Vickery, lobbied his firm to give him at least $2,500 in 2017.
Does receiving money from a company doing business with the LNGs make Treviño suspect in the eyes of the anti-LNG groups? Or is there a buffer because it didn't come from the companies themselves? These questions have to be addressed before people demonize candidates in the upcoming elections. To be against one and justify the other would be intellectually dishonest.
18 comments:
Como se dice vulgarmente.
Le dieron en toda la madre a la madre naturaleza con esto.
Y ahora quien podra ayudarnos ?
El Chapulin Colorado ha muerto !!!!!
Gracias.
Dr. Mata Lozano
Done deal. Too late, juanito. You DEMONIZED Oliveira didn't you? LOL
The pipeline on 48 is already almost all underground, you won't see a trace of the construction after a few months. You drove over several of the same type of pipelines on your way to work this morning, you have just never seen one built before. Check the TX RRC site, you can count all the pipelines around the area, and there are a ton of them.
Shut up. Oliveira rims the assholes of LNG.
The asshole of Dominguez voted for them, Zeke Silva. So you shut up, VATO BOFO!
Pipeline has nothing to do with the prospective LNG plants. Separate deal that going send gas to Mexico via an offshore connection. The gas is the product of the fracing boom in the Eagleford Shale formation reservoirs in Southwest Texas. Once completed, it will be completely buried with just a couple of compression stations along the way. The LNG plants on the other hand will, if all four are built, change the landscape of the entire length of the channel from the Port to the jetties, on both sides. We will look and smell like the Golden Triangle area of Beaumont, Texas City and Port Arthur. And the culprit isn't Oliveira, it's Lucio, Jr. who tying to make his last final payout before retiring and anointing III as your next Senator.
It is amazing how our leaders were willing to sell out for nothing. They gave away to LNG millions in taxes that we could have collected over decades, but in return, we get 35% of 300 jobs, or 105 jobs. 105 jobs. What is at stake is whether the island turns into the next Flint, Michigan disaster or Texas City. These politicians are only thinking about the donation$$$ from LNG, and the slush money they get to play around with. They got dollar signs in their eyes and dreaming of dollars added to their budget to cut deals with and that's all they see. The LNG billionaire see cheap land and cheap brown people whose lives don't matter.If we don't stand up for ourselves who will? The Florida kids are fighting for their lives, while their elected officials cower before the NRA and make excuses. Look at everyone go weak kneed over LNG $$$. Somebody needs to stand up and say no. If we don't stand up for ourselves, the politicians sure aint. Unfuckenbelievable.
You might not see a trace of the pipeline. When it leaks it will go into your drinking water. So you will drink it before you see it.
To all the anti LNG fags, you all got your asses royally kicked and handed to you. you are amateurs. I will miss your cute costume filled protests. Don’t worry, you will find a new cause to protest in no time at all. To all the elderly save the rgv from LNG who are not even from here, FUCK OFF back to where you came from. JOBS FOR LOCALS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR OPINIONS BASED ON LIES. Victory is sweet. Another TRUMP win.
Can't speak for Trevino's motives. You must admit it took balls to be the lone person to stand up for our lives, against the dollar bills LNG was dangling on the end of a fishook.
Trevino also stood up for the west rail trail, he stood up for the families who wanted clean parks and nice walking paths near their homes, instead of semi trucks and strip malls. West rail trail voters got him elected. This is why his fellow commissioners who opposed him are having trouble. All of this suggests Trevino understands that turning our coastline into a razed, oily industrial park will lower property values, kill existing industries and scare away the long term investors. LNG is here today gone tomorrow. No sacred cows tho, if politicians were on the take from LNG let's hear all about it.
Ananymous at 11:07
Well WOW! If you would for one second get your nose out of Eddie Treviños ass, maybe I can shine some light on your idiotic comments fool. You say that Treviño stood up for the west loop people....wrong mosquito brain. He told them he was against it, that is why they voted for him instead of Dan Sanchez.....but go talk to the anti west loop people now....they are pissed at the lying Edd Treviño. He went back on his word and signed a MOU to get the project done....the same one he promised he would fight against.
And as far as the LNG is concerned....he voted against it because he knew the votes were there to pass it! That is not being an effective leader...he couldn't get one commissioner to join him in voting against it! He even took campaign contributions from a law partner that represents an LNG company wanting to set up at port of Brownsville! So go sell your snake oil somewhere else.....Eddie is a liar and a leader of fools. Now you ca go back and put that nose up his ass again......as you were.
An explosion and massive gas leak at a liquid natural gas (LNG) facility in Plymouth, Washington, thirty miles south of the Tri-Cities, injured five workers and forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes.
In the hours that followed, 14.3 million cubic feet of gas spewed from a large gash in the storage tank and other damaged equipment on site.
Anything within a 500 meter radius of the tanker could be killed by freezing or suffocation from the cold gas cloud. If ignited, a large shockwave would be produced as well as a fireball that could burn anything within a 1.6 km radius, causing structural damage and starting forest fires and grass fires. The remaining LNG pool would continue to burn and spread until all of the fuel is gone. Anything within a 3.5 km radius of the blast could also be affected.
You can thank domingez for voting in favor of allowing LNG to set up shop at the port of Brownsville...
A comprehensive list of LNG related accidents over the past 70 years includes numerous tanker malfunctions, collisions and catastrophic explosions.
https://grassrootsrendering.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/lngaccidentsmalfunctions-docx.pdf
LOOK IT UP IF YOU CARE.
Thank you, Dominguez, who ever you are, for voting in favor of allowing LNG to set up shop at the port of brownsville...
Thank you for saying just how it is...all these tree hugger wannabes who are probably all living off the government tit...These ignorants is the reason why the RGV specially Brownsville is the asshole of this country....as Petro chemical and energy worker I am very happy this is finally going to happen...yes Go Trump!!
We can all see that you’re shilling for Dominguez but to say all the LNG opposition are white out of towners is marginalizing the hundreds of Brownsville people who have joined in the fight to stop the production of LNG here. We have been speaking out against LNG for almost 4 years now. Dominguez is an LNG whore. Oliveira is a wider spread whore but there’s not much difference among the two candidates.
Brownsville will never solve its unemployment problem. There are always undocumented people passing through on the way north. As soon as you add open jobs, the illegals will forge some ID papers and take them for less wages than the locals. If there aren't jobs, the undocumented will keep moving on north. Either way, you have lots of unemployed people in a state of transit. Worse, once you pollute clean beaches with toxic waste, the jobs that did exist in tourism and hotel investment would vanish. LNG was never about jobs. LNG was only about ensuring kickbacks and bribes to a few politicians at the top of the food chain. The only people for LNG are for Trump. Trump LOL
I distinctly remember Eddie Trevino at more than one West Rail Trail meeting, supporting the trail and the families who own homes near the old railroad tracks.
Post a Comment