Amidst continuing controversy and protest, construction work began in early August on an international underground pipeline between Chevron's oil refineries in El Paso, Texas and PEMEX's distribution facilities in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The 32 kilometer pipeline, which will cost $8.4 million and run underneath the Rio Grande, will be finished in December. The project was initiated in order to speed the transfer of gasoline to PEMEX. Chevron has been transporting gasoline via commercial truck to Juarez under a contract with PEMEX to supply U.S. gasoline at a lower price than it would cost PEMEX to ship gasoline manufactured at its refineries in the center and south of Mexico up to the border. When completed, the pipeline will have a capacity of up to 25,000 barrels of gasoline per day and enable Chevron to pipe 15,000 barrels each day across the border. According to a spokesperson with Chevron, the project was originally planned for 1994 and has been delayed for two years due to controversy with neighborhood associations and residents in El Paso who live near the project.
Officials from Chevron have stated that the pipeline will reduce air pollution on both sides of the border and make the streets in both communities safer by eliminating the need for 100 gasoline trucks which have been crossing the border each day to transport gasoline to PEMEX's distribution stations in Juarez. However, neighborhood associations and residents in El Paso, where the pipeline will be located, have been attempting to stop the project for the past two years. Residents and neighborhood committees in Juarez who live near the planned route for the pipeline, and who apparently have just been made aware of the project, have also begun to voice concerns to the City Government in Juarez. In Diario de Juarez, Carlos Carrera, president of the neighborhood committee of Torres del PRI commented on August 12 that the City's lack of communication regarding the proposed project seemed to be an effort to stop any protest by residents in the area.
Juarez officials have countered that the project has been well planned
with safety in mind and that no residential areas
of Juarez will be affected by
the passage of the pipeline and there is no need
to evacuate or relocate anyone.
In a Diario de Juarez report, the head of the
Civil Protection department with
the City of Juarez, Daniel Chacon, stated that
residents who live near the project
have nothing to fear because the underground
pipeline will be 40 times more safe
than shipping gasoline in regular pipes.
In Juarez, the underground line will pass below the streets of De Las Torres, Henequen, Libramiento Aeropuerto and a large part of Manuel Gomez Morin. In addition it will run near a populated area of neighborhoods and suburbs such as Los Alcaldes, Torres del PRI, Morelos, Solidaridad, Torres del Valle and Dunas.
On the El Paso side, the residents of Lakeside and Hidden Valley have been fighting the project for several years. "The refinery is already very old and in spite of being well maintained, it needs to be refurbished to operate without problems" stated Juan Saenz, vice president of the neighborhood association for Lakeside and Hidden Valley. Saenz also explained in an article in Diario de Juarez, that while the association and residents are opposed to the project, they had run out of money to continue fighting it.
Under the project agreement, PEMEX is in charge of contructing the portion of the pipeline located in Mexico and will be in charge of operations for the same portion of the line.
Sources: Diario de Juarez.
El Paso
Times