indigenous-peoples-of-the-coastal-bend_1-profile
indigenous-peoples-of-the-coastal-bend_1-profile

Corpus Christi, Texas

Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend

Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend (IPCB), founded in 2016, is an intertribal group dedicated to protecting their ancestral homeland’s history, environment, and its people in Corpus Christi, Texas. The main problems facing IPCB are industrial contamination and development, which threaten the environment, the health of residents, and the area’s vital freshwater habitats. IPCB’s fight against Enbridge’s oil export terminal expansion is also a fight to preserve over 40,000 artifacts of Karankawa ancestors and the environmentally rich marshlands. IPCB stands with local Indigenous people, including the Karankawa Kadla Tribe, to fight for environmental justice and community concerns as required by law. IPCB’s purpose is to ensure that the people and land of the Coastal Bend are not ignored or sacrificed for corporate greed.

Photos by Adal Rivas from “STOP ENBRIDGE” Rally on April 23, 2022

The Indigenous and women-led group has more than 100 members from among five different tribes, finding strength in its peoples — individuals of diverse backgrounds with a shared history. In 2021, IPCB joined Karankawa Kadla Tribe of the Texas Gulf Coast, and Ingleside on the Bay Coastal Watch Association in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for issuing a permit for an oil terminal expansion into an undeveloped area sacred to local Indigenous people, without addressing environmental and community concerns as required under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act. IPCB is also actively raising awareness and protesting against the proposed Inner Harbor Desalinization Plant, to be built in a predominately Black and Latino neighborhood, purportedly to alleviate the area’s water woes. Yet, water quality would in fact suffer as desal plants displace waste and increase salinity, affecting the vital brackish and freshwater habitats in the area for wildlife and humans alike. 

Photos by Adal Rivas from “STOP ENBRIDGE” Rally on April 23, 2022

Climate impacts
Air Pollution, Erosion-Subsidence, Sea Level Rise, Water Contamination
Strategies
Art Activism, Community Farm/Gardens, Community Land Trusts/Land Conservation, Community Science, Direct Relief and Aid, Fighting Industrial Contamination, Halting Bad Development, Policy Reform
501c3 Tax Deductible
No
Accepting Donation
Yes