Carbon capture project is ‘Band-Aid’ to greenwash $10bn LNG plant, locals say

Texas community fights to save its coastline as the developers of Rio Grande LNG regain interest over claims of carbon capture

As the Mexican Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, festivities drew to a close, Dina Nuñez called to order a meeting of women grassroots activists in a modest home in the heart of Port Isabel, Texas. Top of her agenda: how to stop a Houston-based oil and gas company from building a $10bn project to export liquefied natural gas on a nearby stretch of coast.

For Nuñez and her friends, the fight against the scheme – known as Rio Grande LNG – is about protecting their community from air pollution; preserving shrimping and tourism; and defending habitats for pelicans, endangered ocelots and aplomado falcons at the project site on unspoiled wetlands between Port Isabel and the larger city of Brownsville.