Boca Chica, the “little mouth” of the Rio Grande/ Rio Bravo is increasingly the epicenter of NewSpace new colonizing impulses bridged by an explosion of billion-dollar LNG projects seeking to feed Texas-fracked methane to the world market. It’s here in the lower Texas coast that has so far avoided much of the spoilage of the upper and middle coasts, themselves awash with petrochemical and fossil fuel facilities and all the risk and damages they pose to the land and peoples of the region. Next week the community of greater Boca Chica, let’s call it the Rio Grande Valley, or, as our guest reminds us this week: the sacred birthplace of the emergence of the Carrizo/Comecrudo peoples, is being challenged on two fronts.

October 15: In spite of an August rejection by a DC Circuit Court of a trio of LNG-related projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is putting the Texas LNG project back in motion and inviting public comments concerning the potential environmental threats of the project. Comments needed before 5:00 pm EST on October 15, 2024.

October 17: Two days later, Brownsville will host a public hearing on a state wastewater permit being sought by SpaceX, Elon Musk's colonizing mission to Mars now colonizing South Texas, that increasingly dominates the land and lives of this area. As the South Texas Environmental Justice Network writes, the wastewater permit with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will permit polluted waters "on Boca Chica Beach and lands sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas." TCEQ will host a public hearing about SpaceX’s plans in Brownsville on October 17, 2024. Here’s a link to the TCEQ permit notice.

Our guest this week to discuss both of these matters in deep context is Christopher Basaldú, PhD, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network. Basaldú organizes in opposition to SpaceX, LNG, and border militarization in the state and for the recovery of Indigenous lifeways and values. Basaldú earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and later a masters in American Indian Studies and doctor of philosophy in anthropology from the University of Arizona.

Guest: Christopher Basaldú, PhD, Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

More on Oct. 17 from the Regeneration calendar.
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