WE DENY CONSENT!
NO VALLEY CROSSING PIPELINE, NO LNG!
By Juan Mancias,
Tribal Chairman
We, the Esto’k Gna, have been purposefully excluded from any consultations regarding these projects, furthermore, the lack of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent for the Valley Crossing Pipeline project is not only a violation of Due Process and the principles inscribed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007), it is a financial liability that must be addressed in the account ledgers of the parent company Enbridge and Spectra as such and before all relevant financial institutions and international credit agencies.
The Valley Crossing Pipeline and the LNGs are an example of
how the history of colonization, discrimination, and marginalization are a copy
of the policies of expropriation and exploitation of our Mother Earth and the
labor of the Original Nations of Indigenous Peoples across Mexico, the US and
Canada in collusion under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA 1994).
Since time immemorial the Esto'k Gna have called these
lands, which today are commonly called “Texas”, our home. The Carrizo is what the Spaniards called us
because we lived in carrizo huts or jacals.
In our language our houses were called Wama’k. Comecrudo is what the
Mexican people called us because we had a like for some raw foods and also
because we ate a lot of jerky and greens.
The Kiowa called us the shoeless people for we made our shoes from the
fibrous lechugilla grass that grows in the deserts of West Texas and along the
Rivers of the Pecos, Devil’s River and Rio Grande. We have been misnamed as Coahuiltecan,
Jumano, and Cuchendos, as well as Mexican.
Esto’k Gna are all over Texas. We were allies with Tonkawa, Caddo, Hasnai,
Karnkawa, Atakapa, Pueblo. Our Villages
are recorded and remembered by the Elders.
Places like San Isidro, Las Comitas, La Venada, Las Mujeres, Tanque
Alegre, Peñitas (about fifteen of these), Las Pastas, Encinal, were just some
of the old rancherias or village sites of the Esto’k Gna. Carrizo Springs is one of those places as
well and we have begun to build and maintain our Cotoname Village there.
Our homes were along the Rio Grande Delta that includes
present day Northeastern Mexico (Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and
Chihuahua along the Rio Grande all the way up to the Northern Pueblos.
We had a pueblo on the Pecos River in what is now New
Mexico. It was called the Pecos
Pueblo. We have our pictographs all the
way up to Adobe Walls that only assumes that we traveled as far as Kansas
between Scott City and Oberlin at a place called “El Cuartolejo”. Mostly our culture was a Hunter, Gatherer and
Trader culture. We traded our Bows and Arrows and our medicine.
Evidence places us also at the Concho River in Paint rock on
Hwy 83 between Eden and Ballinger.
Evidence of the Moth Man pictograph at Lake Alan Henry denotes our
presence in the Caprock Canyons near Double Mountain near Post Texas.
The rivers and sacred sites have names that carry meaning
and memories with them as we have known them since time immemorial. Enchanted Rock is the Wai Pe-a-una’ma meaning
“the North wind does not leave the mountain” since the North Wind was quieted
by the folk hero Pato’pe. The coal mines
are the place to fear Payawela-u. The
San Antonio river is the Payaua’p Ah-ta meaning “Wolf Water” because of the
wolves that would run north and south along the river. The Nueces River is known as “the bathing
place”, Ya- Pawpe’l. The Concho River is
called “the Gathering Waters”, PAKETETUA’K AH’E. The Rio Grande is “the running waters of life spirit”,
Ahmahatau Mete’l the spirit river.
The rivers and waters were always a place of life and to
give life. They gave everything we need
to survive. They had the fish, turtle,
cattails, algae, and water… always water. The names denote the life spirit the
waters portrayed.
The Devil’s River was known as the EWE AH’E, “Deer waters”
for it was a hunting land for the the Nation of the Esto’k Gna. Punta de Sur
was known is the Wama’k Payese’l the “Heart House” or the place of the house
clans. Double Mountain in Post, Texas was the place to travel for the summer
for hunting and gathering the wild plums. It was a place to gather sage and
deer’s tongue as well. And the Deer were larger there and it was good cover
from the hot summer days. The White River is the PEPO’ AHE --- “white running
water”. The Canyons were the place for
many of the Canyon Clans. We have a Red
Canyon Clan, White Canyon Clan, Yellow Canyon Clan and the Black Canyon Clan.
The villages were a place to trade and visit.
Fallen Timbers along the Red and Canadian Rivers were a place to trade
and gather and make relatives insuring that the tribal lines were not inbred.
The movement of the Esto’k Gna created a large Tribal
presence. The Brazos River was the “Running Red”, because of the its red color
rapids. The canoes or Pakawatatap were left at rivers to utilize as community
travel. Elephant Mountain is the Esto’k Kica’x, “little people mountain”. The eight hills on I10 outside of Boerne is
the Ken Keteui meaning “the sister star mountains”. The Hot springs are the Met Pamala’P,
“stinking waters”. Salado Creek is the
Glam Ah’e Ya, “bear water place”.
The Trappings was an important watering hole in the Big Bend
area known as the Kuama’k Ya, the dance place, an important place for our
Lifeways. We have named only a few of
them.
These dances are ours.
They are the Bear Dance, Deer Dance, Crane Dance, Eagle Dance, Green
Corn Dance, Berry Harvest Dance, Peyote Dance, Harvest Thanksgiving Dance, New
year Dance, Fall Dance, Winter Dance, Prairie Chicken Dance, Red Wolf Dance,
Dolphin Dance, Buffalo Dance, Fishnet Dance, Unification of the Arrows, and it
was daily dance as well. All the dance
are important. It is a part in the daily
creation and opportune time of the Year.
We are present and we exist.
The land is our ancestors’ bones and flesh giving us
life. The waters are the water that has
left the bodies of our ancestors. So, as the ancestors are the land, we the
ancestors, so the Esto’k Gna are the land.
It is not we who own the land, it is the land owns us. So, we stand for what gives us meaning and
our ancestral Identity.
The river waters carry the blood of the Earth who are our
ancestors as well. That water runs
through our bodies thus giving life to the Esto’k Gna.
The Esto’k Gna were first in contact the with Spanish
speaking Europeans who migrated to the continent was in or around the early
1500’s. Before first contact with the
Europeans who migrated to this continent, the Atakapa, Karnakawa, Tonkawa,
Caddo, Wichita where around as well and later in 4th century the plight of the
effects of colonization had brought in the Apache, Comanche, and Coahuilteco
displaced people.
We were respectful of human ways. Rarely was there a battle and we asked for
permission when we used someone else’s trail.
The relationship was muddled up by the mission records for
those Carrizo/Comecrudos that married with the displaced natives brought in by
the Spanish who confused the classification of Tribes, Bands, and Clans.
If you look at the Comecrudo and Cotoname language you will
find that the social makeup of a tribe was through its language. Comecrudan and
Cotoname are the oldest of the languages in Texas that denotes that we did not
speak a Uto-aztecan language. Yet, what is considered Coahuilteco is the
formation of six compiled tribal languages.
The Mission of the Spaniards was to find gold and
riches. The Depredations of the Spaniard
was that of terrorist invaders desecrating beliefs and lifeways of the Original
people of Texas. This is a historical
fact of the trip down the Rio Grande by the Governor Garya from Bermuda sending
soldiers in 1510. (Indians of the Rio Grande Delta: Martin Salinas) the junket was an expeditionary force, but
turned out to be greedy assemblage of blood and rape by the European
Spaniards. The Spanish came up the river
and began to exploit the Esto’k Gna resources and women and children.
The purpose of the mission colonization was to take the
savage out of the wild and make him “civilized”. However, the Esto’k Gna visited the missions
and left. We did not really start
developing a longer relationship with the missions until the turn of the 19th
century. Even then, it was a very
unstable relationship since we were not allowed to dance and especially not to
dance with Peyote.
The Texas Rangers hunted us down and even erroneously
changed our “Citizenship” to steal the land and livestock.
We lived without the oppressive wantonness of greed at the
mouth of the Rio Grande what is now known as Boca Chica and the La Bahia
wetlands. So the intentions of the
Europeans was not of chronicling their trips for history sake, but to terrorize
and subjugate and pillage for wealth.
That oppression is what is part of the Brownsville Port
Authority’s decision to open mega-projects tied to extraction on sacred land
for LNG Industrialization. This includes
the ongoing contamination through gentrification, destructive development, all
of which is just another form of the continued ethnic cleansing and genocide
taking place through colonial “development” on sacred lands.
Now the Texas Historical Commission, of whom the wife of
Kelsey Warren is an active member, are deciding that there is no significant
historical data to warrant a stopping of the Valley Crossing Pipeline and the
the proposed LNGs. The Valley Crossing
Pipeline is the evil project of Spectra and Enbridge. Enbridge is also responsible for the
Pollution of the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Enbridge has put the City of Flint, Michigan in peril
with undrinkable water contaminated with the oil Spill at the Kalamazoo
River. We need to find out who is
financing the these evil people of destruction. They are polluting not just the air, water,
and land; they pollute the well being and the cultural connections of the lands
here in Texas.
Through these mega-projects there is the constant digging up
of the dead that creates upheaval among the living. This nuisance is becoming significant because
the spirits of this land are restless.
They are restless because their eternal sleep has been disturbed, thus
they are looking for closure through the seventh generation.
The Esto’k Gna have a reason for denying our consent to the
LNGs and Valley Crossing Pipeline. This
reason is the continued violations of International Treaties that have been
broken by the Tejas/Nuevo Santader Mexican State, Republic of Texas, The United
States, The State of Texas and the Republic of Texas as well. Ultimately, it is also a violation of the
United States by terminating the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty in 1917 elevating the
ethnic cleansing of the Native Original People of Texas, the Esto’k Gna.
The Texas Historical Commission’s inability to admit that
much of their records of history are erroneous continues to add confusion. The significance lays in the researched
historical data and the recorded language of the Native Original People of
Texas. There is significance in not
accepting the biased documentation by european historians who have only had a
one sided view of their history. Their history is not our history.
The Esto’k Gna do not consent to these mega-projects because
we want to solidify a future for the generations to come, to stop the ignorance
of confusion to the Native Original People of Texas, who struggle to understand
tribe, band, clan, and family. We deny
our consent in order to stop the oppressive attitude toward the Native Original
Peoples of Texas. It is time for
the denial of our existence through
legislated historical ignorance to end.
We do not consent to these mega-projects. We do this in order to make sure that state
agencies understand that “KEEP TEXAS BEAUTIFUL”, means to protect Somi Se’k,
our Mother Earth and all living creatures, and to hold accountable those forms
of governments and its agencies to the dangers of the pollutants from the LNGs
and Valley Crossing Pipeline.
It is critical to understand that the FERC or Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission will give the final approval on the LNG’s
construction. Yet, the Valley Crossing
Pipeline has started construction without a federal permit because they know
that it will be approved anyway in spite of the Esto’k Gna denial to
consent. Regardless of this, we are
making it known that we do not freely consent and we had no prior knowledge of
these projects.
The FERC has given a notice to LNGs to comply with a letter
asking for procedure and study on how the Rocket Pad that has been built 15
miles will affect the LNGs in case of falling debris from a mislaunch of a
Rocket. The FERC has yet to answer the
question. Yet, the ANOVA LNG is asking
for a 10 year Tax Abatement from three counties and says that the income from
their operations would more than make up for them not paying taxes to Cameron
county and surrounding counties. Income
seems to be the only measurement that the Industrial LNG is using for the
economic gain by their construction there. There seems to be no economic
measurement for the side effects that the land, air, and water will
suffer. There will have no measured
results of damages to the Health problems that the human community will suffer
as well.
The companies that carry out these types of projects are
responsible for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the BP oil spill in the Gulf and
Enbridge's oil spill pollution of the Kalamazoo River that has impacted Flint,
Michigan. Enbridge is one of those
companies involved in the building of the Tuxpan Pipeline from Agua Dulce to
Veracruz, underwater and under the Gulf of Mexico.
We, the Esto’k Gna, understand that these projects will
result in the devastation of a Wildlife Refuge and registered historic site
called the Garcias Pasture which will be largely impacted by the construction
of the LNG Export Terminals. Dolphins,
Ocelots, Horned Toads, Ahingas (the waterbird symbol logo of the Native
American Church), Aplomado Falcon, three species of turtles, and many more
animals and plants are being threatened by the construction alone. When the gas starts to flow the spills will
inevitably come and and human beings will be affected. All of these studies EIS have been tampered
with and recorded erroneously findings to gain approval and keep the public
uninformed.
Highway 48, which runs
from Brownsville to Port Isabel, will be even more cluttered with oil transport
traffic, and yet ANOVA is asking for a tax abatement. The road Infrastructure will be damaged and
compromised. It is also known also that many of these LNG Workers will be
imported so the job market will not be available to the local residents.
There are five communities that will be are impacted by the
these horrendous monstrosities that are being built to that will be nineteen
stories high. One community can only get access by water. The shrimpers will be affected by the boat
traffic in the ship channel accommodating the LNG Ships exporting the LNG.
Federal and state Government and the State government need
to be held accountable for the Ethnic Cleansing that goes on through the
Environmental Genocide of Mother Earth, the indigent, the poor, and the Native
Original People of Texas.
You would not pollute your mother, so why then do these
unhuman inhumane Corporations do so for their bottom line? It is up to all of us to hold these people
accountable to all of Humanity, to uphold the values of a natural law over the
man made laws of greed, and to be responsible for our HOME, MOTHER EARTH.
There is a way to stop these projects from happening. It can it be stopped if we get people
involved that are more aware that we are only borrowing this world from the
children of tomorrow. We need to
guarantee that life is not a spiritual journey alone, but also a road that has
its responsibilities. We need to hold
ourselves accountable not for money alone but for how clean water, clean air,
and clean earth maintains our life forms.
We need to be aware that we are not here “to multiply and subdue”, but
to walk with the creation, as we are only a part of the creation, and not apart
from it.
Tribal values were about life and its balance in the
survival of that life in the creation.
Now, our values are and have become traumatic due to the stress of
living in highly technological and high paced society. It is not hard to focus and maintain those
Tribal Values and teachings without succumbing to confused corporate politics
and economics. Decolonization is about slowing down and appreciating that which
is given to us by the creator of all life.
Decolonize and let those who really know the teachings of the land bring
back the meaning of Creation. You have
to be able to see the Stars to know the Teachings. This pollution hampers our ability to really
send our voice into the universe.
We call on all conscious people to attend the rallies,
demonstrations, workshops, convenings, that inspire the ability to break away
from the colonization and gentrification of the Human Being and Human Spirit.
We can VOTE PRO EARTH and you vote for all creation. France has outlawed Fracking and there should
be no reason why we cannot as well. We
must continue to send letters, emails, and phone calls to the Railroad
Commission of Texas that is handing out fracking and pipeline and other oil,
gas, and coal mining permits without regard for these concerns and dire
consequences. In reality, no one will
gain from these mega-death projects other than the oil and gas bullies. Only the wealthy will gain and even the few
jobs that they will provide are limited to those who have no human values.
We have a responsibility to the past humans who deserve the
inalienable right to rest in Peace, without their resting place being disturbed
for the Corporate gain. We have a
responsibility to the present human beings to educate them to at least
understand that Global Warming is effecting all of us on Earth, 129 degree
weather is just not acceptable. We have a responsibility to the future
generations to be able to enjoy the Tribal Lifeways of the Native Original
People of Texas.
We also have a responsibility to Clean Water for all Life!
We also have a responsibility to Clean Air for all Life!
We also have a responsibility to our Mother Earth, a Clean Earth.
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