The port city of Topolobampo in Sinaloa, Mexico, was said to already house a liquefied natural gas plant six years ago when the infamous Trans Pecos Pipeline that was to supply it with natural gas was on every sign-toting protester’s lips.

By drawing a straight line from Ojinaga to Topolobampo, those opposing the pipeline visually convinced West Texans that the export of LNG across the Pacific would undermine their something-or-other.

I like facts. Here are a few. A LNG plant at Topolobampo does not exist. It may become a reality in a few years. Such a plant is under construction in Baja California, Mexico. A pipeline from OJ to Topolobampo would have had to cross the Sierra Madre Occidental. The railroad crossing those mountains from Chihuahua to Topolobampo was conceived in 1880, started in 1900 and completed in 1961. We may conclude that the six long decades of construction were due to the failure of Mexican civil engineers to draw a straight line from point A to point B the way protesters do.

The POTUS, with more Americans voting for and against him than any president in history, has dissed the fossil fuel industry with the backing of the Democrat Party.

Here’s what’s really going to happen. The Jordan Cove LNG plant project on the Oregon coast is paused due to politics. Therefore, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy projects that Mexico is a viable market for stranded Rockies gas.

Phase two will require a new pipeline from the Permian Basin to supply the Baja plant in the construction phase and the Topolobampo plant in the planning stage, according to Tempra LNG’s Brian Lloyd, who said, “We do 20-year sales and purchase agreements.”

Whether or not the new pipeline reaches Topolobampo, it will not cross the Sierra Madre with El Chepe (my projection).

Ultimately, the LNG will be exported to Asia where it will contribute to cleaner air starting about 2030, and that in turn will contribute to better atmospheric conditions worldwide. This is how we are suckers, not succors in the process. Lost to the U.S. is the ability to employ people in the construction, operation, and maintenance of an LNG plant in our own country, and to control its emissions.

The world is not going to stop seeking cheap fuel because of the Paris Climate Agreement, signed by the very people who will buy and use the LNG, because they need it and will continue to need it for the next few decades or centuries.

Several references, including natural gasintel.com.

Rex Redden

South Brewster County