The pipeline runs from El Encino, Chihuahua to Topolobampo, Sinaloa, Mexico.
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In 2012, pipeline operator TC Energy signed a 25-year contract with Mexico's Comision Federal de Electricidad for the $1.1 billion El Encino Topolobampo project. Construction of the pipeline started in 2012, and commercial operations began in June 2018.[3][4]
The pipeline, operated by TC Energía, is 572 km (355 mi) long and 30 inches in diameter, with a capacity of 670 million cubic feet per day[1][9], or 6.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
The El Encino Topolobampo pipeline has provoked opposition from indigenous Rarámuri communities in the state of Chihuahua, including several dozen villages within 3 kilometers of the pipeline's projected path. Mexican law requires that indigenous peoples be consulted before development of energy projects on their territory, but in the case of the El Encino Topolobampo pipeline, this process was only initiated in 2014, two years after the Mexican government signed its agreement with TC Energy, and it was only in January 2015 that Mexican officials first met with Rarámuri representatives to discuss the project at an assembly in Mogotavo.[10]
The Rarámuri communities of San Luis de Majimachi, Mogotavo, and Bosques de San Elías Repechique initiated legal proceedings to stop the pipeline in 2015[11], temporarily halting the project, which was already 95% complete. According to press reports, members of the indigenous community of San Elías Repechike were confronted with death threats in retaliation for their opposition to the project.[12]
By early 2017, TC Energy had negotiated an alternate route through San Ignacio de Arareco, clearing the way for the company to finalize the permitting process.[7]