Mexico’s Southeast Gateway natural gas pipeline, which brings U.S. gas into the country and is intended to eventually expand supply toward the Yucatán Peninsula, has become the focus of rising resistance from Veracruz coastal communities and environmental groups. Opponents say the project’s construction and operation threaten fishing livelihoods, risk ecological damage, and could undermine Mexico’s climate commitments as the country builds out more gas-linked infrastructure.
In the Gulf of Mexico fishing area of Los Arrecifes in Veracruz, Mauricio Contreras has fished for more than 40 years, but he said the pipeline has put his family’s main source of income at risk. Contreras said that when workers laid the line, boats dropped explosives and the noise could be heard from shore, and he now worries about potential leaks. “It’s a constant danger that will always be there, and it’s a risk for the entire fishing industry,” Contreras said.
The pipeline, known as Southeast Gateway, was built by Canada’s TC Energy in partnership with Mexico’s state-owned power company, CFE. According to the reporting, the project adds 700 kilometers (435 miles) to a system that stretches from southern Texas to Tabasco state, where it supplies gas for electricity generation at facilities that support a major oil refinery. Southeast Gateway is also described as part of plans to bring gas to the Yucatán Peninsula once an expansion of another pipeline is completed.
Opponents argue that the wider strategy—Mexico importing increasing amounts of U.S. natural gas and potentially re-exporting portions abroad—adds to dependence on fossil fuels and threatens climate goals. The resistance, as described in the reporting, includes communities that say they were not properly consulted and environmentalists warning that underwater work and methane leaks could damage marine ecosystems.
More than 40,000 people across Veracruz—many of them making their living from the sea—say they were not informed or consulted before construction started. The residents, including Nahua and Nuntajiiyi’ Indigenous peoples, filed a lawsuit last year over the pipeline that was dismissed but is under appeal. Maribel Cervantes, an activist and teacher who joined the legal challenge, said: “We do not agree with this gas pipeline megaproject because we were never informed about it. We were never consulted and therefore we do not know the consequences it will have.”
The government has argued that Southeast Gateway was a matter of national security and kept some information about the project secret, including its exact route. President Claudia Sheinbaum said last year that it was important for natural gas to reach the area, according to the reporting.
Environmental groups have also warned about ecological effects tied to construction and operation. Greenpeace warned that dredging to bury the pipeline could affect deepwater reefs that shelter species not found in shallow reefs, and Greenpeace Mexico’s energy and climate coordinator, Pablo Ramírez, said methane leaks could affect ecosystems such as the reefs. The reporting said the reefs help sustain species including green and olive ridley sea turtles that nest on beaches in communities such as Los Arrecifes.
TC Energy, according to the reporting, declined an interview but said the pipeline created 4,000 jobs during construction and met federal requirements. The company said a September video it produced stated that “thoroughly analyzed the marine environment” informed the route design to preserve ecosystems, and it described the project as bringing natural gas to Mexico’s southeast for the first time while opening “opportunities for economic and social development in one of the poorest regions of the country.”
Beyond Southeast Gateway itself, the reporting places Mexico’s push for U.S. gas in the context of a 2013 energy reform that opened the sector to private and foreign investment. Energy consultant Víctor Ramírez said the reform aimed to reduce reliance on more polluting fuels such as fuel oil and coal and to take advantage of lower natural gas prices in the United States. Analysts cited in the reporting said Mexico’s position could also help it access markets the U.S. cannot reach as easily, and could allow Mexico to resell gas abroad for profit.
Southeast Gateway is currently supplying gas only to the Dos Bocas refinery, a project described in the reporting as one of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s flagship initiatives and as Mexico’s largest refinery. The pipeline could eventually carry more than 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day if additional government plans proceed, including a second pipeline connection toward a planned plant in Oaxaca that would convert gas into liquid form for shipment to Asia. Claudia Campero of the Mexican nonprofit Climate Connections said liquefaction plants burn part of the gas for power and generate polluting emissions, and she described other liquefied gas-linked projects as drawing strong opposition as a result.
Critics also questioned whether the gas emphasis aligns with climate targets. Pablo Ramírez of Greenpeace said completing pipeline projects would make it unlikely Mexico could meet a goal to reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by 31% to 37% by 2035. Suárez, an energy analyst at Ember, said the strong focus on gas raised doubt about Mexico more than doubling electricity from renewables to 45% by 2030, as promised by Sheinbaum.
For Maribel Cervantes and others involved in the lawsuit, the central issue is control over decisions that affect their communities. Back at her courtyard in San Juan Volador, she demanded that officials consider the people affected by the project, saying: “As Indigenous peoples, we demand that our right to autonomy and self-determination be respected,” and adding, “We don’t want them imposing their megaprojects on us.”