Greenpeace Ship “Arctic Sunrise” Arrives In Mexico To Save Veracruz Reefs From Massive Gas Pipeline

Greenpeace Mexico announced the arrival of the Arctic Sunrise at a press conference in the port of Veracruz in Mexico. The ship will remain in Mexican waters from May 13th to June 5th to conduct research on the Veracruz reefs and launch its campaign Mar adentro, mar afuera (“The open sea – the sea outside”) against the Sur de Texas Tuxpan Pipeline that will bring US fossil gas into the country.

Pablo Ramírez, Greenpeace México Climate & Energy campaigner:

“The planned Sur de Texas Tuxpan will serve a blow to President Obrador’s stated agenda. By importing U.S. fracked gas to Mexico, we are forgoing our energy sovereignty and sacrificing some of the poorest communities from both countries who are immediately at risk of pollution and losing their livelihood. Finally, planned in the heart of a massive coral reef, this pipeline would turn Mexico’s ambitious climate and biodiversity targets into pipe dreams.”

Arctic Sunrise — Credits: @gp_sunrise / Twitter

In the coming weeks, the Greenpeace team, joined by researchers of the University of Veracruz, will document the current state of the reef in the central and northern areas of the State of Veracruz – an understudied ecosystem that remains outside designated protected areas.

The planned construction of the Sur de Texas Tuxpan Pipeline, a gas pipeline that aims to connect Texas with Tuxpan, Coatzacoalcos, and Dos Bocas in the State of Veracruz, is a project of CFE (Mexican Federal Commission of Electricity), TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) and the U.S. company Allseas. It threatens the reef ecosystems of the region and the coastal communities that depend on them.

Destiny Watford, Greenpeace USA climate campaigner, said:

“The oil and gas industry has lit a fuse on the US’s largest carbon bomb that threatens to blow away any hope of a livable future. This gas already devastates communities in Texas and Louisiana where it is extracted and transported, increasing cancer rates and respiratory issues. Now, they want to pipe this toxic gas through the Veracruz reef, a fragile ecosystem already stressed by the climate emergency. Greenpeace is joining the communities on the frontline of this planned pipeline in demanding the immediate cancellation of the project.”

Laura Ullmann, Greenpeace Canada, Head of Climate:

“TC Energy has a history of violating the rights of local communities and destroying the environment. They’re currently building a pipeline through unceded Indigenous territory in Canada and this is another example of how they blatantly disregard the devastating local and global impacts of fossil fuel expansion.”

In Mexico and around the world, the extraction, transportation, storage and burning of gas has led to explosions and leaks, such as the Eye of Fire in the Mexican Gulf, as well as negative health impacts for communities around areas of extraction in the U.S. South, including cancer and respiratory diseases. Gas is the most consumed source of energy in Mexico, but over 70% of it is already imported from the U.S., making the country’s energy mix ever more vulnerable to events like the Texas’ cold wave, which left the country without gas or electricity., Fossil gas is one of the main sources of methane emissions in the energy sector.

The science is clear: no new fossil developments, including gas, are compatible with the threshold of maintaining global temperatures below 1.5°C (34.7F). The construction of fossil infrastructure also represents a serious risk to marine ecosystems, such as reefs, in proximity to the megaproject.

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