Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

In 2021, Climate Nexus launched an Energy Equity Regranting Project to help resource organizations, tribes, and community leaders on the frontlines of climate change and the impactful work they are doing to fight the gas industry. The energy equity transition grants prioritize grassroots groups with an annual budget of $1 million or less to boost their efforts in racially, ethnically, gender, and culturally diverse communities across the United States and at the intersections of public health and energy justice.

In our second year running the program, 11 organizations received grants ranging from $20,000 to $40,000, including the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, whose work is detailed below. 

Overview

Based within the South Texas Rio Grande delta, the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas has faced a multitude of threats to its historic land. As temperatures increase, the dangers of extreme heat have become a focal point of the tribe, as well as fighting the construction of pipelines across the Southwest, increasing accurate history for the Texas Education Board, and increasing proper federal recognition of their related villages as part of the tribe.

Activities

The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas works across Texas to monitor orphaned and disposed wells, the planned construction of pipelines, fracking, and flaring violations, and to protect the sacred lands of the tribes they represent.

Fighting Pipelines

The tribe bought four tracts of land near the Valley Crossing Pipeline, as more builders want to run a pipeline adjacent to that land with the goal of connecting it to a planned liquified “natural” gas export terminal. The tribe’s primary goal is to keep sacred tribeland, the land up to the Rio Grande River, untouched. The tribe’s fight is against Enbridge Inc., the Canadian multinational pipeline and fossil fuel company behind the proposed Rio Bravo Pipeline. 

Exacerbated Weather Conditions

This year, there was a record ten straight days with average temperatures of 106 degrees Fahrenheit in Texas. The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe is concerned about the effects of extreme heat on people as well as wildlife and natural resources, like air and water. However, with the build out of LNG export facilities in the Gulf, sea life is being harmed – there has been an uptick in dead fish. 

Lessons Learned

Juan Mancias, Tribal Chair of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe, reflected on their work to preserve the tribe’s history. “What we’re trying to do is to map where all these villages are because there are trails that are not marked, and there’s a history there that is being avoided because it has to deal with what Texas did to the original people of Texas. I’m not talking about the ones that were brought in or the ones that came running into Texas to go into Mexico, or the ones that were servants to the Spanish. We’re talking about the original people, the ones that were here first. That’s who we are.”

Future and Sustainability

Juan Mancias, Tribal Chair of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe, reflected on their work to preserve the tribe’s history. “What we’re trying to do is to map where all these villages are because there are trails that are not marked, and there’s a history there that is being avoided because it has to deal with what Texas did to the original people of Texas. I’m not talking about the ones that were brought in or the ones that came running into Texas to go into Mexico, or the ones that were servants to the Spanish. We’re talking about the original people, the ones that were here first. That’s who we are.”

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  Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

  The Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe travels throughout Texas, monitoring pipelines, disposal wells, ongoing border wall construction, and fracking/flaring violations.