An Indigenous man from the Carrizo Comecrudo tribe wearing a button-down striped shirt is looking into the camera
A group of people are standing in a row along the roadside, holding protest signs
A group of people are gathered in protest. A man waves a black flag with the Carrizo Comecrudo logo above his head.
Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas Logo
A group of people are seated in a room with an arched ceiling, with three people giving a presentation at the front of the room.
A lone sign stands in an empty field that reads, "Come build your dream home, choose your lot now. Your builder or ours."
A group of people are gathered on a city street in protest and are holding various signs.

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.”

Filter Grantees by Year:

  • Great Plains Action Society

    Great Plains Action Society

    Great Plains Action Society addresses the trauma that Indigenous Peoples and the Earth face from colonial capitalism and works to prevent further violence.

  • Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania

    Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania

    Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania has spent the past decade educating Pennsylvanians on the health dangers of the gas industry.

  • 7 Directions of Service

    7 Directions of Service

    7 Directions of Service is fighting to cancel the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s Southgate Extension and to advance Rights of Nature laws.

  • North Carolina Climate Justice Collective

    North Carolina Climate Justice Collective

    NCCJC uses an intersectional approach to address environmental issues that directly impact North Carolinians living on the frontlines of extractive industries.

  • South Carolina Interfaith Power and Light

    South Carolina Interfaith Power and Light

    SCIPL develops programming and resources around food insecurity, high energy bills, electric vehicle infrastructure, and resilience hubs.

  • The People’s Justice Council

    The People’s Justice Council

    The People’s Justice Council is led by pastors, community organizers, and working professionals to create an equitable, sustainable, and just world.

  • Better Brazoria: Clean Air & Water

    Better Brazoria: Clean Air & Water

    Better Brazoria: Clean Air & Water supports residents of Brazoria County by watchdogging petrochemical companies trying to export liquid “natural” gas.

  • Society of Native Nations

    Society of Native Nations

    SSN works to recognize the existence of Native peoples in Texas, and contest the petrochemical buildout from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast.

  • Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

    Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas

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

  • Rio Grande International Study Center

    Rio Grande International Study Center

    RGISC conducts independent research and community education to steward the environmental preservation and restoration of the Rio Grande Basin.