๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ ๐จ.๐ฆ. ๐๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ข๐ถ๐น ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น
Love Sanchez: 361-558-2945, IndigenousPeopleCoastalBend@gmail.com
Patrick Nye: 361-658-1089, patrick@nyexp.us
Efforts by MODA Ingleside Oil Terminal, LLC (MODA) (the countryโs leading oil export terminal) to double its capacity will destroy Karankawa cultural site, seagrasses, and wetlands.
Corpus Christi, Texas – The Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend, Karankawa Kadla Tribe of the Texas Gulf Coast, and Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for issuing a permit for MODA to expand its operations into an undeveloped area sacred to local Indigenous people, without addressing environmental and community concerns as required under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.
Now the largest U.S. oil exporter, MODA wants to construct an additional deep-water dock and turning basin to load up to three barges and two supertankers at one time. Members of Indigenous Peoples and of the Karankawa Kadla tribe hold sacred the land and adjacent waters where the proposed MODA Terminal expansion will be built, because of its links to the membersโ ancestors, who lived in the area for hundreds of years.
During an investigation of the McGloinโs Bluff site in 2008-2009, archeologists uncovered over 39,000 artifacts from this significant Karankawa encampment and recommended that it be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. โThis area was home to my ancestors for hundreds of years. I am deeply concerned that MODAโs expansion will destroy this sacred land and the artifacts buried within it, forever erasing these pieces of our history and removing these last remaining vestiges of my ancestry from the earth,โ said Love Sanchez, co-founder of Indigeneous Peoples of the Coastal Bend and Karankawa Kadla Tribe member. โThe Army Corps granted MODA a permit to expand their facility without even looking at how MODAโs expansion may impact the artifacts on and around McGloinโs Bluff. Without a meaningful and comprehensive review of the projectโs potential and likely impacts, allowing the expansion is an avoidable and intentional act of erasure.โ
Residents of the coastal city of Ingleside on the Bay, located immediately adjacent to MODA, have complained in the last few years of increased noise, light, and air pollution, silting of seagrasses, and unsafe boating. Earlier this year a supertanker lost power and crashed into Modaโs existing pier.
The approved permit will allow MODA to build a new dock even closer to the city, leading residents to worry about further decline of their fishing, boating safety, personal health, and property values.
โI grew up appreciating this beautiful place and what it has to offer since my parents bought land in Ingleside in 1967 when I was 14 years old,โ stated Patrick Nye, President of the Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association. โMy family and I are deeply concerned that the proposed expansion of MODAโs operations would prevent us from enjoying the many activities and events that we have built our lives around, like watching birds, and shelling and fishing off our pier. One of my main concerns as a fisherman and birder is that the MODA expansion will destroy many acres of life-sustaining seagrasses.โ
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys with the law firms of Perales, Allmon & Ice, P.C. and Waltzer Wiygul & Garside LLC.
For more information visit:StopModaNow.com
Karankawas 