Visualisation of Rio Grande LNG project. Photo: Riograndelng.com
2024-07-22 | New York City
By: Sierra Club
Contact:
Ada Recinos, Deputy Press Secretary
Today, dozens of Gulf Coast residents and major organizations — representing millions of members and supporters — sent letters to leading financial institutions calling on them to stop supporting liquefied methane gas (also known as LNG) projects in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Letters were sent to 40 banks, insurance companies, asset managers, and financial firms that have or could potentially support Texas LNG, Rio Grande LNG, and the associated Rio Bravo pipeline.
Below is an excerpt from the letter:
“Providing financial support for these projects poses both financial and reputational risks to your institution and would cause irreparable harm to local ecosystems, Indigenous rights, and the climate.
We urge you to end your relationship with NextDecade and their Rio Grande LNG export terminal, Enbridge and the Rio Bravo pipeline, and to not provide any additional financial support to these or other proposed projects in the Rio Grande Valley or throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast.”
The three gas export projects have not been built yet and are all seeking financing to either start or continue clearing land and pouring concrete on the site. Near Port Isabel, TX, one of the last untouched natural areas of the Texas coastline, NextDecade is already destroying essential wetlands, mudflats, and sacred lands to make way for Rio Grande LNG. These pristine lands have for generations provided habitat for important coastal wildlife and endangered species like the ocelot and are ancestrally significant to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. These LNG projects plan to operate and spew toxic pollution in the middle of a significant wildlife corridor adjacent to the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge and about 6 miles away from the highly explosive SpaceX launch pad on Boca Chica Beach. Glenfarne’s Texas LNG, meanwhile, wants to build on Garcia Pasture, an ancestral archaeological site with burials and village sites for the Carrizo/Comecrudo thathas been recognizedby the World Monuments Fund and registered by the National Park Service.
In 2023, the world’s largest banksprovided$705 billion in fossil fuel financing, with $347 billion going to top fossil fuel expansion companies alone. JPMorgan Chase is the top fossil fuel financier in the world, and Citibank has provided the most financing to top fossil fuel expanders since 2016, following the adoption of the Paris Agreement. Japanese banks Mizuho and MUFG were the largest financiers of the LNG sector in 2023, including Rio Grande LNG. Financial institutions have the ability to choose what to invest in and could use this money to fund renewables and other climate solutions instead of fossil fuel projects.Every step of the way — from extraction by fracking, to transport by pipeline, to energy-intensive liquefaction — LNG projects release significant amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
“We caution that if your institution supports these dangerous projects in the Rio Grande Valley, it faces both substantial financial risk – as the projects continue to face delays and legal hurdles – and significant reputational damage – as the public urgently demands responsible and sustainable financing practices,”the letter states.
Many of the letter's signersrecently participated in the “Summer of Heat,” traveling to New York City to demand that top financial institutions stop funding fossil fuel projects along the Gulf Coast.
STATEMENTS
"The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe is actively opposing any financial institution or company involved in developing the Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG, Rio Bravo Pipeline, and any other environmentally harmful dirty energy projects that seek to be constructed on our sacred lands. The Tribe has held meetings with Societe Generale and BNP Paribas, and as a result, both institutions have withdrawn from these LNG projects. These banks and the private equity group Global Infrastructure Partners must do the same. We are not backing down," saidJuan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas.
“Our community, the Rio Grande Valley, has made it clear that we oppose the Rio Grande LNG and Texas LNG projects because they would damage the climate and our way of life, which depends on clear air, wildlife habitat, and access to a clean ship channel. Banks, investors, insurance companies, and any corporation that supports these LNG projects are forcing their polluting will on our low-income Latine community, and that is environmental racism. These institutions must withdraw their support for these LNG projects immediately, saidBekah Hinojosa, based in Brownsville, TX and with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.
“While the economy is important for RGV and Texas, RGV deserves better opportunities. We deserve an opportunity for decent jobs with fair income, security in the workplace, and social protection. LNG will destroy our land, air, and water. LNG is a threat to our environment and health,” saidLupita Sanchez, based in Brownsville, TX, and the director of Border Workers United.
“People along the Texas Gulf Coast have been suffering the impacts of LNG facilities for years,”said Dave Cortez, director of the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter.“This includes dangerous explosions, air pollution that is making old folks and kids sick, heavy truck traffic that degrades local infrastructure, significant water usage in times of water scarcity, and the desecration of our natural spaces. Meanwhile all Texans from Freeport to Amarillo to Brownsville to Austin are feeling the consequences of climate change, including record-breaking Hurricane Beryl that pummeled the Houston area just two months after an extreme windstorm hit the city. LNG terminals – and the entire toxic life cycle they create – are huge culprits behind this pain. These financial institutions have a choice: willfully ignore the growing chorus of Texans and Americans calling for swift action on climate change, or support investments in a 21st century clean energy economy for all.”
List of financial institutionsthat the letter was sent to:
US
- AIG
- Allstate
- Bank of America
- Blackrock
- Citigroup
- Clifford Capital
- Fidelity National Financial
- Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP)
- JPMorgan Chase
- Morgan Stanley
- Symetra Financial
- Truist
- Washington State Pension Fund
- Wells Fargo
- Wilmington Trust
Japanese
- Mizuho Bank
- MUFG Bank
- Sompo Insurance
- Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC)
Canadian
- Bank of Montreal (BMO)
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
- National Bank of Canada
- Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
- Scotiabank
- Toronto Dominion (TD)
UK & European
- Allianz
- Banco Santander
- Barclays
- Credit Agricole
- Deutsche Bank
- HSBC
- Intesa Sanpaolo
- KfW Ipex-Bank
- Societe Generale
- Standard Chartered
Saudi Arabia
- Riyad Bank
- Arab Petroleum Investment
South Korea
- Kookmin Bank
- Korea Development Bank
Singapore
- United Overseas Bank
United Arab Emirates
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
China
- Bank of China
Bermuda
- Resolution Life Group Holdings
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action.For more information, visitwww.sierraclub.org.
This press release was originally posted on Sierra Clubwebsitehere.
