Promises of consultation are not enough for Indigenous communities in the path of pipeline construction in Mexico, an important market for the Texas shale fields.
I wrote for NACLA about the El Encino-Topolobampo natural gas pipeline, which TransCanada (TC Energy) built through the territory of Rarámuri communities in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua. While communities demanded a consultation process, it was too little too late, and the pipeline was inaugurated in late 2018. This pipeline is one of several that connects Texas fracking industry to the Mexican energy market. After Mexico’s 2014 Energy Reforms, natural gas imports from the United States soared.
The article appeared in NACLA’s latest issue, Latin America’s Green New Deal. The full story is available from Taylor & Francis online. My reporting was supported by a grant from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources.
