Motion 031

The oil and gas industry is pursuing development of a network of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and fracked methane gas pipelines in and around the Gulf of California (GC). Because of the iconic species biodiversity of the region, the “Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California” is a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in 2005, was recently listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger in 2019 and portions were designated as a Biosphere Reserve by Mexico in 1993. As summarized by UNESCO, the Site, which among a wide diversity of species contains 39% of the world’s species of marine mammals, has been famously described as the “Aquarium of the World.”

Mexico Pacific Limited’s anchor project, Saguaro Energia LNG (“Saguaro LNG”), at Puerto Libertad in Sonora state, Mexico, is currently the most advanced LNG export terminal planned in the GC, alongside two additional projects beginning public review. These LNG terminals will rely on fracked methane gas primarily from the Permian Basin, U.S., for export largely to Asia to avoid the necessity of transit through the Panama Canal. The planned infrastructure would lead at minimum to extractive 20-year supplies of LNG exports channeled through the GC. Saguaro LNG has secured LNG export and pipeline gas permits required in the United States and Mexico.

The threat of LNG industrialization to the GC’s iconic ecology cannot be overstated. The significant adverse impacts of the planned LNG infrastructure development include, but are not limited to, air and water pollution, explosions, and leakage risks. Furthermore, increased commercial shipping through the narrow confines of the GC poses significant risk to the 11 species of whales, as well as other cetacean species including the endangered blue whale and critically endangered vaquita. 300-meter-long LNG transport vessels regularly traversing the GC waters would pose a constant threat of ship strikes and would cause a significant elevation of ambient noise levels in the key habitat of marine animals dependent on hearing and being heard for their survival.

In its Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Mexico has recognized the threats and adverse impacts of climate change to its people. The Iniciativa Climática de México’s life-cycle analysis of the Saguaro LNG project estimates 73 million tons of CO2 emissions (MtCCO2e) per year, contributing 5.4 MtCCO2e of Mexico’s annual GHG emissions. Such additional LNG emissions would counter efforts by the Mexican government’s commitment to net-zero by 2050.

The proposed LNG export terminals would affect deserts, islands and waters historically and traditionally occupied by Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) like the Seri Tribe. LNG industrialization in the GC, with its accompanying environmental harm and displacement, could jeopardize the IPLCs health, ways of life, cultures, livelihoods, and wildlife that have sustained them for generations. Local community members, experts, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have expressed concern about LNG industrialization in the GC. There are active campaigns, Whales or Gas and EsGasFósil, with broad-based support from a coalition of Mexican NGOs. Further, in Mexico and the United States, there are numerous court challenges filed by NGOs and community members concerned by the limited environmental impact assessments done to date.