New from @gaigedavila.bsky.social: As deep South Texas prepares for its first gas export facility, the Observer has reported out the impacts of LNG facilities in the industrialized town of Freeport and in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

I'm moving to Phoenix next month to attend ASU's Master's in Investigative Journalism program. My plan is to come back to Texas after. It's the worst time to leave, but I can't make a living here right now. On that same note, I need help to get to school. Any donations are appreciated, if you can.

“It changes your life when you get arrested and you see everything that you ever had about to go away because you were trying to provide a living. A lot of these people provide work for people because nobody else wants to do the job.”

"Villarreal said that, while SpaceX currently has to go through the county to schedule closures of S.H. 4 and Boca Chica Beach, he’s been informed that the company is in Austin lobbying legislators for the state rather than the county to regulate the closures."

Here is the Starbase boundary from Cameron County, which is largely illegible.

The comments on the Cameron County Judge's FB post on the "Starbase" election. Yesterday I noticed that you couldn't see any comments regardless of what filter you selected. Others did too, and now all the comments are visible now. I've never seen this much resistance to the county on a post.

Cameron County is holding an official election for incorporating "Starbase." Something interesting: the post says there's over 45 comments, but you can't see them. Others are pointing this out and accusing the Cameron County Judge's office page of deleting comments.

From @gaigedavila.bsky.social, in our magazine: The hope is that the more people who see Boca Chica Beach and feel its connection to the Valley’s collective memory, the more likely it will be saved from further development.

Hawai'i's state legislature submitted a bill last week demanding the FAA launch a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on SpaceX's Starship program.

Brazos Santiago Pass

NextDecade is trying to expand into Brownsville through an offsite storage yard. At 117 acres, it would include "a single- story office trailer, equipment such as cranes of various sizes and boom heights, and piles of stored materials up to 10 feet in height." elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/fil...

Plans for a massive Rio Grande LNG export terminal along the Texas Gulf Coast have drawn criticism from environmental groups, Native American tribes and others. Developer NextDecade is now seeking support from influential allies to advance the project.

Spoke with @texasstandard.bsky.social about my @texasobserver.org story on Brownsville officials taking talking points and op-eds from NextDecade.

A Sierra Club and Greenpeace report estimates that air pollution from currently operating LNG facilities nationwide causes $957 million in health costs and 60 premature deaths a year.

The controversial LNG plant is replacing 984 acres of wetlands northeast of Brownsville in the sensitive Laguna Madre area, a crucial habitat for migratory birds and ocelots separated from the Gulf by the Padre barrier island.

For the @texasobserver.org: NextDecade, the company developing Rio Grande LNG, has helped Brownsville and Cameron County officials draft op-eds and media statements by writing them outright or furnishing talking points.

Wrote an essay for @deceleration.bsky.social about the last Starship launch. This is my attempt to meet the moment, in reporting on this company and my hometown's changes because of growth coalitions from outside of the area.