Gas Pipeline Update

Quick Synopsis

Energy Transfer envisions constructing a 516-mile, four-foot diameter pipeline capable of pumping 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The pipeline will originate in Texas's Permian Basin, cross New Mexico, and cut through 50 miles of the San Pedro River Valley, before angling across Oracle State Park and heading north to Phoenix—with the likely goal of fueling the massive energy needs of water-intensive data centers to come. 

Nine compression stations will ensure continuous transmission, including one in the rural town of Oracle. A lateral (or offshoot) pipeline will be directed to San Manuel, proposed for a new energy station to sustain major industrial operations—including, but not limited to, the large-scale copper mine that Canadian exploration company Faraday/Redhawk seeks to realize on Copper Creek, an important upslope tributary of the San Pedro River.

Pipeline construction along the San Pedro will require defoliating riverbanks, possibly causing run off and pollutants to enter the river stream, and increasing the likelihood of violent flash flooding. Miles of roads and easements needed to construct and maintain the pipeline will fragment and despoil one of the nation's largest and rarest fully-intact desert-river wildernesses. 

The potential toll on the San Pedro's endangered species cannot be underestimated. Moreover, given the flammability of methane and commonality of pipeline accidents, the project will increase the potential for fires in arid, fire-prone wildlands and communities alike. In addition, the construction phase threatens existing archaeological, historic and cultural-legacy sites of significance to the the Apache, Tohono o'Odham, Hopi, and Zuni nations, among others.