Agua Prieta pipeline

Last updated March 06, 2019

The Agua Prieta pipeline (Spanish: gasoducto Agua Prieta) is a natural gas pipeline project by Sempra Energy that aims to move natural gas from the U.S. state of Arizona to the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa. The pipeline will cross the Yaqui River (Rio Yaqui), the main water source for the Yaqui, an indigenous tribe. The pipeline has an approximate length of 833 km upon completion, approximately 90 km of which will go through Yaqui territory. Some of the Yaqui community strongly oppose the pipeline and have campaigned against it.

Spanish or Castilian, is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in the Americas and Spain. It is a global language and the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese.

Sempra Energy is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. It divides its interests into two broad categories: public gas & electric utilities, including Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) in southern California, and Oncor Electric Delivery Company (Oncor) in Texas; and businesses not subject to California utilities regulation, chiefly Sempra LNG & Midstream, Sempra Mexico and Sempra Renewables.

Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, but commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium. It is formed when layers of decomposing plant and animal matter are exposed to intense heat and pressure under the surface of the Earth over millions of years. The energy that the plants originally obtained from the sun is stored in the form of chemical bonds in the gas.

Geography and description

The Agua Prieta pipeline is a natural gas pipeline project by IENova (a subsidiary of the Texas-based Sempra Energy)^[1] that aims to move natural gas from the U.S. state of Arizona to the northern Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa.^[2] The Yaqui Valley is fed by numerous tributaries which drain the eastern highlands as they flow from the escarpment of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the Gulf of California.^[3]^{[ page needed ]} The pipeline received a permit from the Mexican government approving its construction; gas distributed through the pipeline will go to the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, the national electric utility of Mexico.^[1]

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western and the Mountain states. It is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico; its other neighboring states are Nevada and California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest.

The United Mexican States is a federal republic composed of 31 states and the capital, Mexico City, an autonomous entity on par with the states.

Currently, the Agua Prieta pipeline consists of a 13 km pipeline that is 20 inches in diameter, having entered into operation in 2002.^[4] Once complete, the pipeline will be approximately 833 km long.^[4]^[5] The first portion of the pipeline that is currently undergoing construction is 505 km with 36 inches in diameter, and will transport natural gas from Sásabe to Guaymas, Sonora.^[4] The second portion of the pipeline is planned to be 330 km with 30 inches in diameter, and will transport natural gas from Guaymas to El Oro, Sinaloa.^[4]^[5]

History

On December 12, 2013, the Mexican lower house voted by a two-thirds majority to end government control of Mexico's oil, historically opening up the nation to private companies and foreign investments after decades of nationalized oil. While project managers hail this pipeline as the bringer of clean and low-cost energy, Loma de Bácum (the Yaqui holdout community) remain skeptical.^[6]

Opposition

Yaqui territory is protected by the Mexican constitution and law which guarantees indigenous community land rights. Mexico, along with other Latin American countries, are signatories to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention, which guards their rights and makes an informed consultation obligatory in the case of projects that affect their territories.^[7]

The Constitution of Mexico, formally the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States is the current constitution of Mexico. It was drafted in Santiago de Querétaro, in the State of Querétaro, by a constitutional convention, during the Mexican Revolution. It was approved by the Constitutional Congress on 5 February 1917. It is the successor to the Constitution of 1857, and earlier Mexican constitutions.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social justice and promote decent work by setting international labour standards. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 of the 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands are members of the ILO. The tripartite structure is unique to the ILO where representatives from the government, employers and employees openly debate and create labour standards.

The Agua Prieta pipeline will cross the Yaqui River (Río Yaqui), the water source for the Yaqui, an indigenous tribe residing in the Yaqui Valley in Sonora, Mexico and the Southwestern United States.^[2] According to scholar Stephen V. Lutes, "the Yaqui are notoriously sensitive about the issue of autonomy, even today, and have shown a will to resist the encroachments of alien colonists and authority."^[7]^{[ page needed ]} Many past conflicts between the Yaqui and the Mexican government have focused on control over land and water.^[8] The anti-pipeline Solidaridad Tribu Yaqui group opposes the pipeline, saying that it infringes upon the territory and autonomy of the Yaqui and is a project of government and business violence.^[9] The rollback of environmental regulations by the Trump administration has further raised fears over the pipeline.^[2]

The Yaqui or Yoeme are an Uto-Aztecan speaking indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit the valley of the Río Yaqui in the Mexican state of Sonora and the Southwestern United States. They also have communities in Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is based in Tucson, Arizona. Yaqui people live elsewhere in the United States, especially California, Texas and Nevada.

Indigenous peoples of Mexico, Native Mexicans, or Mexican Native Americans, are those who are part of communities that trace their roots back to populations and communities that existed in what is now Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans.

The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest, is the informal name for a region of the western United States. Definitions of the region's boundaries vary a great deal and have never been standardized, though many boundaries have been proposed. For example, one definition includes the stretch from the Mojave Desert in California to Carlsbad, New Mexico, and from the Mexico–United States border to the southern areas of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. The largest metropolitan areas are centered around Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, Albuquerque, and El Paso. Those five metropolitan areas have an estimated total population of more than 9.6 million as of 2017, with nearly 60 percent of them living in the two Arizona cities—Phoenix and Tucson.

There are differences among the Yaqui over the pipeline, leading to sometimes violent confrontation.^[2]^[1] Opponents of the project say that the pipeline will cross 90 kilometers into Yaqui territory in violation of Mexican law and that "building the pipeline without consultations that are deemed to be fair, transparent, and inclusive for all of the Yaqui communities would be a violation of the sovereignty of Yaqui land."^[10] Yaqui activist Plutarco Flores, for example, told Inter Press Service (IPS), "We were not asked or informed. We want to be consulted, we want our rights to be respected. We are defending our territory, our environment."^[11] In one consultation in May 2015, the Yaqui voted against the pipeline.^[11] Yaqui members from Loma de Bácum secured a moratorium temporarily blocking pipeline construction.^[1]

Despite the opposition from indigenous communities, construction continued, "allegedly with the support of government officials and the Yaqui members from the community of Loma de Guamúchil."^[1] In October 2016, there was a clash at Loma de Bácum involving the use of "machetes, clubs, rocks, and firearms." One protester was fatally shot, eight were injured, and there was "significant property damage" including the burning of cars.^[1] In December 2016, Yaqui activist and lawyer María Anabela Carlón Flores and her husband, Isabel Lugo Molina, were kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown masked men before eventually being released.^[2]^[12] Following the abduction, Carlón Flores filed a complaint with the office of the Sonora state prosecutor (the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado en Sonora) and the State Commission on Human Rights (the Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos).^[5]^[13] Carlón Flores accuses the State Public Security Police (Policía Estatal de Seguridad Pública) of being complicit in the kidnapping.^[13]^[5] Carlón Flores told La Jornada that the masked men had seized her husband and taken him to a car that was being guarded by the State Police.^[12]

Related Research Articles

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Agua Prieta is a town in Agua Prieta Municipality in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the Mexico–U.S. border, adjacent to the town of Douglas, Arizona. The municipality covers an area of 3,631.65 km². In the 2010 census the town had a population of 79,138 people, making it the seventh-largest community in the state, and a literacy rate of 96.3%. 89% of the homes in the city have electricity, 94% have running water, and 86% are connected to the sewer system. The city's most important economic activities, in descending order, are industry, commerce and farming. The city is the location of the CFE Agua Prieta power plant.

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Navarro, Carlos (November 9, 2016). "Disagreement over Pipeline Causes Violent Confrontation Among Yaqui Factions in Sonora". Latin America Digital Beat. University of New Mexico.
1 2 3 4 5 Alexander Sammon, Get Ready for the Trump Pipeline Boom: 8 oil and gas projects in the works—and the protests gathering around them, Mother Jones (March 1, 2017).
↑ Cynthia Radding, Peasant Resistance on the Yaqui Delta, Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn 1989).
1 2 3 4 "Gasoducto de Aguaprieta". Gasoducto Aguaprieta.
1 2 3 4 Milton Martinez, Levantan a dos líderes yaquis; acusan complicidad de policía estatal Yaquis leaders accuse State Police of Complicity, Proceso (December 14, 2016).
↑ "Another pipeline through Indian land – this time in Mexico". openDemocracy. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
1 2 Evers, Larry: The Holy Dividing Line: Inscription and Resistance in Yaqui Culture (1992).
↑ Nájar, Alberto (31 August 2015). "Yaquis: los combatientes de la primera guerra del agua en México" (in Spanish). BBC World.
↑ Solidaridad Tribu Yaqui. "Yaquis Resist the Pipeline "Gasoducto Agua Prieta"". Palabras Rebeldes.
↑ Arzaba, Andrea (14 December 2016). "Mexico Ahead Controversial Pipeline Through Indigenous Land, Despite Moratorium". GlobalVoices.
1 2 Emilio Godoy (November 11, 2016). "Opposition to Oil Pipeline in U.S. Serves as Example for Indigenous Struggles in Latin America". Inter Press Service.
1 2 Cristina Gómez Lima, Secuestran a abogada de los yaquis y a su esposo [Yaquis lawyer and her husband kidnapped], La Jornada (December 14, 2016).
1 2 Activista yaqui secuestrada acusa complicidad de la policía de Sonora [Yaqui activist kidnapped accuses Sonora police], La Silla Rota (December 21, 2016).

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[Navarro-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Navarro, Carlos (November 9, 2016). "Disagreement over Pipeline Causes Violent Confrontation Among Yaqui Factions in Sonora". Latin America Digital Beat. University of New Mexico.

[Sammon-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Alexander Sammon, Get Ready for the Trump Pipeline Boom: 8 oil and gas projects in the works—and the protests gathering around them, Mother Jones (March 1, 2017).

[:5-3] Cynthia Radding, Peasant Resistance on the Yaqui Delta, Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn 1989).

[:6-4] 1 2 3 4 "Gasoducto de Aguaprieta". Gasoducto Aguaprieta.

[Proceso-5] 1 2 3 4 Milton Martinez, Levantan a dos líderes yaquis; acusan complicidad de policía estatal Yaquis leaders accuse State Police of Complicity, Proceso (December 14, 2016).

[6] "Another pipeline through Indian land – this time in Mexico". openDemocracy. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2017-04-24.

[:1-7] 1 2 Evers, Larry: The Holy Dividing Line: Inscription and Resistance in Yaqui Culture (1992).

[8] Nájar, Alberto (31 August 2015). "Yaquis: los combatientes de la primera guerra del agua en México" (in Spanish). BBC World.

[9] Solidaridad Tribu Yaqui. "Yaquis Resist the Pipeline "Gasoducto Agua Prieta"". Palabras Rebeldes.

[:0-10] Arzaba, Andrea (14 December 2016). "Mexico Ahead Controversial Pipeline Through Indigenous Land, Despite Moratorium". GlobalVoices.

[Godoy-11] 1 2 Emilio Godoy (November 11, 2016). "Opposition to Oil Pipeline in U.S. Serves as Example for Indigenous Struggles in Latin America". Inter Press Service.

[Lima-12] 1 2 Cristina Gómez Lima, Secuestran a abogada de los yaquis y a su esposo [Yaquis lawyer and her husband kidnapped], La Jornada (December 14, 2016).

[SillaRota-13] 1 2 Activista yaqui secuestrada acusa complicidad de la policía de Sonora [Yaqui activist kidnapped accuses Sonora police], La Silla Rota (December 21, 2016).