A business group planning to import more U.S. natural gas to Mexico is planning a new pipeline across sensitive desert landscapes in southern Arizona.

Grupo Clisa, a Mexican business group whose projects include a 50-percent stake in the Nueva Era pipeline from Texas to Monterrey, Mexico, is preparing to seek an authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a new pipeline that would deliver gas to the Yuma area and northwestern Mexico, according to a recent filing.

Construction of the pipeline and associated facilities would temporarily impact 2,557 acres of land, with permanent impacts to 827 acres. The route runs next to and crosses the Gila River, a rare water source in the arid Southwest that is known for its bird habitat for species like eagles, wild turkeys, and dusky grouse, along with pronghorn, elk, bighorn sheep, javelina, cougars, and black bears.

The company’s application states that the project would supply gas for “power generation, industrial, and residential consumption in the northwestern Mexican market, as well as the demand for power generation in the Yuma area and throughout Arizona.”

Around Yuma, an area with a multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry centered around winter vegetable farming, data center developers have been inquiring about desert land outside the city to build massive new facilities, according to reporting by Arizona’s Family TV news. Whether gas from the pipeline could be used for data centers is unclear.

FERC will also hold a public meeting on the project's potential environmental impacts at 5 p.m. MT on Oct. 6 at the Four Points Sheraton, 2030 S Avenue 3E, in Yuma, Arizona. The agency is accepting comments on the project until Oct. 21.

— Research contributed by Paul MacGillis-Falcon.