Fighting Gas Pipelines at Garcia Pasture, Texas
The Esto'k Gna have always lived in what is now Texas and northern Mexico. But their sacred sites are in jeopardy from new fossil fuel projects.
Located on an expanse of coastal dunes not far from where the Rio Grande flows into the sea, Garcia Pasture is one of the most significant sites for the Esto’k Gna people, also known as the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. Owing to its deep history and the wealth of artifacts it contains, the site has been listed on the Register of Historic Places.
But a host of environmental threats, from climate change to gas pipelines, imperil the area’s rich ecosystem and the lifeways that have developed around it.
In 2022, the Esto’k Gna partnered with World Monuments Fund (WMF) to bring attention to this threatened heritage site and the Native stakeholders have been cut out of the conversation about the fate of their own ancestral sites.
“We honor that which gives us life. The bear, deer, dolphin, mountain lion, badgers, hawks, eagles, we honor all these as relatives. And each of these relatives give an identity to our place in the circle of life.… It is about being part of the creation, not above it or less than it.”
Juan B. Mancias
Esto'k Gna Tribal Chairman
Brown pelican at Bahia Grande (2019) by Rebekah HinojosaWorld Monuments Fund
Nature at Garcia Pasture
Bordered by the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Garcia Pasture has traditionally played host to a wealth of wildlife. Its location at the meeting of several climatic zones means that a diverse array of animals call the area home.
These include species that have been wiped out elsewhere. For instance, Garcia Pasture is home to one of only two ocelot populations left in the United States. Likewise, the red wolf, which are found in the wild in much of the country, can still be spotted there.
The Esto’k Gna see these native animals as relatives; their relationship is not one of domination and subjugation but of mutual respect and coexistence.
Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico (2006) by Carey AkinWorld Monuments Fund
Oil tankers in the port of Galveston (2008) by U.S. Army Corps of EngineersWorld Monuments Fund
Fighting the Pipelines
But the ecosystem is threatened by a proposed series of liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals in nearby Brownsville. Plans for pipeline construction across Esto'k Gna land moved forward without any consultation of the Tribe, whose members vigorously oppose the project.
Water samples taken by the EPA after the Texas-New Mexico pipeline burst (1972) by David HiserWorld Monuments Fund
Community members warn of a number of potential hazards. Storage tanks of flammable gas pose a risk of explosion, and pipelines crisscrossing the land always carry with them the possibility of a leak.
Dr. Christopher Basaldú, an anthropologist and organizer with the Sierra Club, is a member of the Esto'k Gna Tribe who has been active in the resistance to the pipelines. Interviewed at one such demonstration, he laid out the relationship between the LNG projects and colonialism.
Dr. Christopher Basaldú
Anthropologist and activist
Groups like the Sierra Club have criticized the LNG permitting process for violating the sovereignty of the Esto’k Gna. The National Park Service has also raised questions about the propriety of the approval process.
Juan Mancias
Tribal chairman, Esto'k Gna
In 2017, Tribal Chairman Juan Mancias traveled to Paris as part of a delegation of Native Water Protectors for Stand Up with Standing Rock, a series of events protesting fossil fuel infrastructure on Native land and the role of European banks in facilitating it. The tour took its name from Standing Rock Reservation, which played host to months-long demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the threat it posed to water, land, and ancestral sites.
Juan Mancias
Tribal chairman, Esto'k Gna
Compounding matters at Garcia Pasture is the fact that the federal government does not recognize the Esto’k Gna, thereby depriving them of certain protections and legal avenues. It’s a situation that underscores the unity of environmental activism and activism around indigenous rights and sovereignty.
RGV Conference to stop a liquid gas pipeline (2019) by Rebekah HinojosaWorld Monuments Fund
Likewise, when traditional lifeways are inherently tied to plants, animals, and landscapes, the anticolonial struggle cannot be divided from the fight to protect the land from polluters.
View of Garcia Pasture (2019) by Rebekah HinojosaWorld Monuments Fund
Juan and Christa Mancias—the chairman's daughter and future successor—prefer the word “lifeways” to Christian-inflected terms like “ceremonies.” Esto'k Gna dances, songs, teachings, and language are not separate "extras" added on top of life but fundamentally of a piece with it—and the land, including sacred sites like Garcia Pasture, plays a crucial part in that as well.
RGV Conference to stop a liquid gas pipeline (2019) by Rebekah HinojosaWorld Monuments Fund
SpaceX Starship SN8 wreckage (2020) by Steve JurvetsonWorld Monuments Fund
Space Exploration and Colonial Mindsets
Another environmental challenge has been the construction of a SpaceX base in nearby Boca Chica. The rocket launches have brought not only noise and particle pollution but also fires from engine tests and debris from accidents.
Tap to explore
SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Site
With the opening of the SpaceX complex near the waterfront, beaches that are key to Esto'k Gna lifeways have been closed to the public, which Tribe members argue is a violation of their religious freedom.
It’s not difficult to detect in the rhetoric of space “colonization” and “conquest”—not to mention mining and resource extraction from asteroids and other celestial bodies—echoes of the terrestrial colonization to which the Esto’k Gna and other first peoples have been subjected.
Raptor engine test at SpaceX's Boca Chica base (2020) by Steve JurvetsonWorld Monuments Fund
Climate Change and the Gulf
Garcia Pasture is also highly vulnerable to climate change. Situated along the Gulf Coast, it has been affected by the intensifying hurricanes and flooding in the region, as well as longer and more intense heat in the summer months.
“In the Rio Grande Valley, they have had two 100-year and one 500-year storms in the past five years.”
Juan B. Mancias
Esto'k Gna Tribal Chairman
Red wolf (2013) by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service HeadquartersWorld Monuments Fund
In recent years, habitat destruction has meant that animals once plentiful around Garcia Pasture have become scarce: the few red wolves that now frequent the area, for instance, are mostly coyote hybrids.
Meanwhile, projections for sea level rises show that Garcia Pasture may be under water in the near future. It’s a prediction that makes the goal of stopping fossil fuel infrastructure expansion even more urgent.
Parade in Brownsville, Texas GARCIA (2020) by Rebekah HinojosaWorld Monuments Fund
Up to now, the Esto'k Gna have managed to stave off the pipelines. But with government and business interests pushing for extraction, the challenge is not over. It’s a struggle bound up in the Tribe’s ability to maintain ties to their past—and chart the course for their future.
“So far, we have been successful in delaying any construction of any LNG terminal. This is crucial for us, not only because of the climate crisis created by these structures and the industry itself but also because of the Tribal erasure we experience every time ground is broken.”
Juan B. Mancias
Esto'k Gna Tribal Chairman
Dr. Christopher Basaldú
Anthropologist and activist
