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Rio Grande LNG Terminal United States
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By: BankTrack & Rainforest Action Network
Created on: 2017-08-04 10:33:31
Last update: 2020-02-24 16:54:12

Contact:

Alison Kirsch, Climate and Energy Program and Research Coordinator, Rainforest Action Network


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Visualisation of Rio Grande LNG project. Photo: Riograndelng.com
Sectors Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas
Location
Status
Planning
Design
Agreement
Construction
Operation
Closure
Decommission
Website http://www.riograndelng.com/

About Rio Grande LNG Terminal

In the port of Brownsville, Texas in the USA, NextDecade is planning to build the Rio Grande LNG export terminal. The facility will be supplied with natural gas from a new natural gas pipeline, the Rio Bravo Pipeline (owned by NextDecade). According to NextDecade's subsidiary, Rio Grande LNG, the investment for their LNG terminal and required infrastructure would amount to USD 20 billion.

Next to this LNG Terminal, there are two other terminals planned to be constructed in the Port of Brownsville (Texas LNG and Annova LNG). 

Latest developments

Lawsuits challenge approval of Rio Grande and Annova fracked gas export facilities in Texas for harm to endangered Ocelot

2020-04-20 00:00:00

FERC authorizes construction and operation of Rio Grande LNG project and associated Rio Bravo Pipeline

2019-11-21 00:00:00

Why this profile?

The Rio Grande LNG terminal project threatens local wetlands consisting of coastal prairie and native brush. It is also next to the Bahia Grande, the largest wetlands restoration project in North America.

What must happen

In general LNG export terminals are capital-intensive, financially risky and environmentally destructive. Financial institutions involved in these projects share responsibility for the impacts of these facilities. These impacts span people and ecosystems across the continent: communities around the terminal site, communities at the point of extraction and communities along the pipeline routes.

By financing practices that are incompatible with a climate-stable future, the financial institutions involved threaten the global agreement to address climate change. Therefore, Société Générale, Macquarie and SMBC should withdraw their involvement in this project.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

The public health impacts of climate change in U.S. Gulf Coast states—Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—may be especially severe and further exacerbated by a range of threats facing the coastline areas, including severe erosion, subsidence, and—given the amount of energy production infrastructure—the ever-present potential for large-scale industrial accidents. The Gulf Coast population is expected to reach over 74 million by 2030 with a growing number of people living along the coastlines. Populations in the region that are already vulnerable because of economic or other disparities may face additional risks to health and well-being as a consequence of a changing climate, creating new levels of concern for political and public health leaders.

Communities that would feel the negative impacts of the LNG terminals are often low-income people of colour. The Rio Grande LNG Terminal will be located between the Laguna Madre communities and next to Brownsville, a rural community that is 93 percent Hispanic or Latino. More than 35 percent of the Rio Grande Vallley's residents live in poverty, the highest rate of any metropolitan area in the United States. Already this region struggles with major health issues. These projects would add thousands of tons of pollutants into the air. Across the United States nearly 1.78 million Latinos already live in areas that face a cancer risk above the EPA's level of concern from toxins emitted by oil and gas facilities. Industrial ozone smog burdens Latino communities with 153,000 childhood asthma attacks and 112,000 lost school days each year.

If built, this LNG terminal could significantly impact the local fishing, shrimping and ecotourism industries. Nearby South Padre Island could have its beauty and its economy compromised by the release of effluent water, and the brown haze that would come with the thousands of tons of air pollution.

In the Rio Grande Valley, nature tourism alone leads to 6,600 jobs. In contrast, an LNG terminal creates mostly temporary construction jobs and only a few hundred permanent ones.

Environmental and climate impacts

The terminal is proposed right on the edge of what the US Fish and Wildlife Service calls 'one of the largest and most succesful coastal wetland restoration projects in the US': the Bahia Grande unit of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife refuge, where wetland restoration is still ongoing. The 21,700 acre refuge is a safe haven for a range of species and native vegetation, as well as a crucial storm barrier. Endangered ocelots and Aplomado falcons roam this area. As of August 2015 only 53 ocelots were left in Texas, all in this area of the state. Construction, bright lights, tall structures, air pollution and wastewater will fundamentally alter the ecosystem of the area.

With these three terminals (Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG and Annova LNG) exporting at full capacity, burning just one year's worth of the gas exported from Brownsville would create greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the annual emissions of 30 coal-fired power plants. Accounting for extracting, piping, liquefying and shipping the gas nearly doubles the carbon intensity of energy produced from RGV's exported LNG. LNG is the most carbon-intensive form of natural gas.

Governance

Updates

Lawsuits challenge approval of Rio Grande and Annova fracked gas export facilities in Texas for harm to endangered Ocelot

2020-04-20 00:00:00

Today, environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) approval of the massive Annova LNG fracked gas export terminal proposed for southern Texas. The suit was filed in conjunction to one the groups filed last week challenging the Rio Grande fracked gas export facility proposed for the same area. These projects threaten to contribute to the extinction of the endangered ocelot in the U.S.

FERC authorizes construction and operation of Rio Grande LNG project and associated Rio Bravo Pipeline

2019-11-21 00:00:00

NextDecade, sponsor of the Rio Grande LNG export facility, announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued an order authorizing the siting, construction and operation of the proposed Rio Grande liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Brownsville, Texas and the associated Rio Bravo Pipeline (NextDecade press release).

Societe Generale and Macquarie named financial advisors for Rio Grande LNG

2017-05-02 00:00:00

NextDecade, LLC said it has appointed Societe Generale and Macquarie Capital to act as joint financial advisors in conjunction with the anticipated debt and equity financing for the construction of its Rio Grande LNG and associated Rio Bravo Pipeline projects. Rio Grande LNG is a proposed LNG export facility at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, planned for a 984-acre industrial site. The LNG project and its associated Rio Bravo pipeline are in the midst of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitting process.

Financiers

The project is estimated at USD 8 billion, to be financed with USD 4.4 billion debt and USD 3.6 billion equity (IJGlobal database).

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is mandated lead arranger and was appointed as third financial advisor in 2019, after Macquarie Bank and Société Générale earlier were in 2017.

Related companies

In February 2020 Enbridge acquired 100 percent of the share capital of Rio Bravo Pipeline and assumed all responsibility for developing the pipeline. NextDecade stated it would continue to be responsible for the development, financing, construction, and operations of its Rio Grande LNG export facility (NextDecade press release).

Project sponsor

NextDecade United States

Owner of Rio Grande LNG

Other companies

Bechtel United States

Contracted for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the Rio Grande LNG project

Enbridge Inc Canada

Owner of the Rio Bravo Pipeline, after acquiring it from NextDecade in February 2020

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

Lawsuits challenge approval of Rio Grande and Annova fracked gas export facilities in Texas for harm to endangered ocelot

US FWS violated the Endangered Species Act, putting ocelot at risk of extinction
2020-04-20 | New Orleans | Sierra Club, Sierra Club
blog
external news
our news

Banking on Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2020

New report reveals global banks funneled USD 2.7 trillion into fossil fuels Since Paris Climate Agreement, with financing on the rise each year 
2020-03-18 | Nijmegen | BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club
blog
external news
our news

Opponents of Texas Port LNG terminals inch closer to lawsuit

2020-01-27 | Ttnews.com
blog
external news
our news

NextDecade partners with Enbridge to build proposed pipeline for Rio Grande LNG

2019-09-18 | Houston Chronicle
blog
external news
our news

Rio Grande Valley: Big banks urged not to back high risk fracked-gas export terminals

2019-08-14 | BankTrack
blog
external news
our news

New Report: Banks and Investors Should Avoid Supporting Rio Grande Valley LNG Projects

Three proposed fracked gas export terminals would pose reputational risks for financial institutions
2019-07-10 | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

912 activists ‘clean up’ Société Générale despite police repression

2018-12-14 | Paris, France | Les Amis de la Terre
blog
external news
our news

Climate: Société Générale targeted by “clean-up” actions across France

2018-09-08 | Paris | Friends of the Earth France
blog
external news
our news

New report: Société Générale – Foot on the gas for fossil fuels

2018-03-05 | Paris | Friends of the Earth France
blog
external news
our news

Woodlands-based LNG co. begins trading on Nasdaq after blank-check merger closes

2017-07-25 | Houston Business Journal
blog
external news
our news

NextDecade signs deal to build LNG terminal in Ireland

2017-07-20 | Bizjournals.com
blog
external news
our news

Port of Brownsville approves agreement with Rio Grande LNG in support of wetlands restoration

2017-07-06 | LNG Industry
blog
external news
our news

Societe Generale and Macquarie Capital named financial advisors for Rio Grande LNG project

2017-05-02 | Oil&Gas360
blog
external news
our news

Commentary: RGV native lands threatened by LNGs

2017-02-20 | The Monitor
blog
external news
our news

RAN: Texas Rio Grande Valley Under Threat from Natural Gas

2016-10-31 | www.triplepundit.com
blog
external news
our news

Second wave of Texas LNG export projects could take off in the next decade

2016-06-27 | The Houston Chronicle
blog
external news
our news

NextDecade takes next step to build pipeline and LNG plant in South Texas

2016-05-06 | www.bizjournals.com
blog
external news
our news

Island council mulls LNG

2015-09-02 | The Brownsville Herald

Documents

Type:
Year:
correspondence
2018-07-23 00:00:00

Letter from NGOs to Societe Generale on Rio Grande LNG

2018-07-23 00:00:00 | NGOs
ngo documents
2018-07-23 00:00:00

Note to Societe Generale on financial risks of supporting fracked gas export infrastructures

2018-07-23 00:00:00 | Les Amis de la Terre
ngo documents
2017-11-07 00:00:00

Letter from NGOs to Societe Generale on Rio Grande LNG

2017-11-07 00:00:00
ngo documents
2016-10-01 00:00:00

Rio Grande Valley: At Risk from Fracked-Gas Export Terminals

2016-10-01 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network
our publications
2017-05-23 00:00:00

Société Générale Fossil Bank Briefing 2017

English version
2017-05-23 00:00:00 | BankTrack, Les Amis de la Terre
ngo documents
2016-11-06 00:00:00

A bridge to nowhere

The climate, human rights & financial risks of liquified natural gas export
2016-11-06 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network

Media

RGV LNG export terminals sites

Links

The truth about fracked-gas terminals

Campaign webpage of Rainforest Action Network

http://www.ran.org/lng

Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club

Campaign Facebook page of Sierra Club

https://www.facebook.com/Lower-Rio-Grande-Valley-Sierra-Club-135992229800248/

Save RGV from LNG

Campaign website to stop LNG export terminals in the Rio Grande Valley.

http://www.savergvfromlng.com/

Save RGV from LNG

Facebook page of campaign to stop LNG export terminals in the Rio Grande Valley.

https://www.facebook.com/saveRGVfromLNG/

Brief history

Gas, mostly derived from fracking, is piped to the coast, supercooled and compressed into a liquid - liquefied natural gas (LNG). Due to over-extraction from fracking the USA faces an oversupply of natural gas. Across North America companies are planning to build dozens of LNG export terminals. These infrastuctures span hundreds of acres. Each facility connects to a network of pipelines that are fed from fracking sites. There are 40 of these proposed and existing facilities in the USA, and 80 percent of them are situated along the Gulf Coast. The three terminals planned for the Rio Grande area (Rio Grande LNG, Texas LNG and Annova LNG) have each received authorisation from the Department of Energy to export their LNG overseas. They are awaiting completion of a full environmental review and a final decision from the Federal Energy Regulatory commission (FERC). This decision is expected to be taken in 2017.

While an SEC filing reportedly states an expected final investment decision on the project by June 2019, NextDecade states that they expect it some time in 2018.

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