Mexico's Standing Rock? Sempra, TransCanada Face Indigenous Pipeline Resistance South of Border

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Since Mexicoย privatizedย its oil and gas resources in 2013, border-crossing pipelines including thoseย owned by Sempra Energy and TransCanada have come under intense scrutiny and legalย challenges, particularly from Indigenousย peoples.

Opening up the spigot forย U.S.ย companies to sell oil and gas into Mexico was aย top priority for the Obama State Departmentย under Hillaryย Clinton.

Mexico is now facing its own Standing Rock-like moment as the Yaqui Tribe challenges Sempra Energy’sย Agua Prieta pipeline between Arizona and the Mexican state of Senora. The Yaquis in the village of Loma de Bacumย claim that the Mexican government has failed to consult with them adequately, as required by Mexicanย law.

Indigenousย Consultations

Under Mexico’s new legal approach to energy, pipeline project permits require consultations with Indigenous peoples living along pipeline routes. (In addition, Mexico supported the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on theย Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which includes the principle of โ€œfree, prior and informed consentโ€ from Indigenous peoples on projects affecting them โ€” something Canada currently is grappling withย asย well.)

It was a similar lack ofย indigenous consultation which theย Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said was the impetus for lawsuits and the months-long uprisingย against the Dakota Access pipelineย near the tribe’s reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in late 2016. Now, according to Bloomberg and Mexican reporterย Gema Villela Valenzuela for the Spanish language publicationย Cimacnoticias, history is repeating itself in the village of Loma de Bacum in northwestย Mexico.

Agua Prieta, slated to cross theย Yaqui River, was given the OK byย seven of eight Yaqui tribal communities. But theย Yaquis based inย Loma de Bacum have come out against the pipeline passing through their land, even goingย as far as chopping out a 25 foot section of pipe built acrossย it.

โ€œThe Yaquis of Loma de Bacum say they were asked by community authorities in 2015 if they wanted a 9-mile tract of the pipeline running through their farmland โ€” and said no. Construction went ahead anyway,โ€ Bloomberg reported in a December 2017 story. โ€œThe project is now in a legal limbo. Ienova, the Sempra unit that operates the pipeline, is awaiting a judicial ruling that could allow them to go in and repair it โ€” or require a costlierย re-route.โ€

As the legal case plays out in the Supreme Court of Justice in Mexico, disagreements over the pipeline and its construction in Loma de Bacum have torn the community apart and even led to violence, according toย Cimacnoticias.

Construction of the pipeline โ€œhas generated violence ranging from clashes between the community members themselves, to threats to Yaqui leaders and women of the same ethnic group, defenders of the Human Rights of indigenous peoples and of the land,โ€ reported Cimacnoticias, according to a Spanish-to-English translation of itsย October 2016ย story.

โ€œThey explained that there have been car fires and fights that have ended in homicide. Some women in the community have had to stay in places they consider safe, on the recommendation of the Yaquis authorities of the town of Bรกcum, because they have received threats after opposingย signing the collective permit for the construction of theย pipeline.โ€

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TransCanada’s Troubles Cross Anotherย Border

While best known for the Canada-to-U.S.ย Keystone XL pipeline and the years-long fight to build thatย proposedย tar sands line, the Alberta-based TransCanada has alsoย faced permitting issues in Mexico for its proposed U.S.-to-Mexico gasย pipelines.

According to a December 2017 story published in Natural Gas Intelligence, TransCanada’s proposedย Tuxpan-Tula pipeline is facing opposition from the indigenous Otomi community living in theย Mexican state of Puebla. With Tuxpan-Tula, TransCanada hopes to send natural gas from Texas to Mexicoย via an underwater pipeline named theย Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipelineย into the western part of theย country.

Theย Otomi community recently won a successful bid in Mexican district court to stopย construction ofย Tuxpan-Tula.

โ€œAt a recent hearing on an indoor soccer court at the foot of Cerro del Brujo, or Shaman’s Hill, in the southern Mexican state of Puebla, a district judge sided with an indigenous community and ordered constructionโ€ of the pipeline to halt, Natural Gas Intelligence reported. โ€œ[T]he court made the order in response to pleas from the local Otomi indigenous community, which claims that the construction would disturb sacredย ground.โ€

Energy sector privatization in Mexico, decried by the country’s left-wing political parties and leadingย 2018 presidentialย contender Andrรฉs Manuel Lรณpez Obrador, has actually opened up the sort ofย legal opportunities that theย Otomi have pursuedย inย court.

โ€œWhat is new in Mexico is the requirement that indigenous communities should be consulted,โ€ Ramses Pech, CEO of the energy analysis group Caraiva y Asociados, told Natural Gas Intelligence. โ€œThat kind of consultation has long been a part of any project in the U.S. and other countries, but not so here. It was obviously needed in Mexico, too, but it has added to the complexities of the Mexican legal system in areas such as land and rights ofย way.โ€

In the U.S., the tribal consultation process is governed by the National Historic Preservation Act’s Section 106. That law gave the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe standing to sueย U.S. government agencies, though ultimately unsuccessfully, for what the tribe alleged were violations which took place during the inter-agency permittingย process.

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Main image:ย Yaqui community gatheringย Credit:ย Andrea Arzaba,ย CC BYSAย 4.0

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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