Red River Redevelopment

Authority a.k.a. Tex Americas

Issues and Concerns

 RRRA Tex Americas Info
• Created by the Texas Legislature as a
municipality
• NAFTA corridor location for highway
and rail shipments
• Foreign Trade Zone at the Red River
Commerce Park
• Texas Enterprise Zone Program
 Foreign Trade Zone
• An FTZ is an area within the United States, in or near
a U.S. Customs port of entry, where foreign and
domestic merchandise is considered to be outside the
country, or at least, outside of U.S. Customs territory.
Certain types of merchandise can be imported into a
Zone without going through formal Customs entry
procedures or paying import duties. Customs duties
and excise taxes are due only at the time of transfer
from the FTZ for U.S. consumption. If the
merchandise never enters the U.S. commerce, then
no duties or taxes are paid on those items.
 NAFTA
• The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) was implemented on January 1, 1994. It
is designed to remove tariff barriers between the
U.S., Canada and Mexico over the next fifteen
years. NAFTA includes two important side
agreements on environmental and labor issues that
extend into cooperative efforts to reconcile
policies, and procedures for dispute resolution
between the member states.
 NAFTA cont.
• NAFTA promoters - including many of the
world’s largest corporations - promised it
would create hundreds of thousands of new
high-wage US Jobs, raise living standards in
the U.S., Mexico and Canada, improve
environmental conditions and transform
Mexico from a poor developing country into a
booming new market for U.S. exports
 NAFTA cont.
• NAFTA opponents - including labor,
environmental, consumer and religious
groups - argued that NAFTA would launch a
race-to-the-bottom in wages, destroy
hundreds of thousands of good U.S. jobs,
undermine democratic control of domestic
policy-making and threaten health,
environmental and food safety standards.
 NAFTA cont.
• Twelve years later (2006), it is clear that the costs to
workers outweighed the benefits in all three nations.
The process differed from country to country, and given
the greater size and wealth of the United States, the
impact there has not been as great as it was in Mexico
and Canada. But the overall pattern was similar. In
each nation, workers' share of the gains from rising
productivity fell and the proportion of income and wealth
going to those at the very top of the economic pyramid
grew. Source: epi.org -Economic Policy Institute
 The NAFTA Superhighway
• By now many Texans have heard about the proposed “NAFTA
Superhighway,” which is also referred to as the trans-Texas
corridor. What you may not know is the extent to which plans for
such a superhighway are moving forward without congressional
oversight or media attention. This superhighway would connect
Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath
through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City.
Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast,
Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus
the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines,
fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running
alongside. Ron Paul 2006
 NAFTA Superhighway cont.
• The River of Trade Corridor Coalition (ROTCC) was created in 2004 to unite cities,
counties, transportation authorities, freight movement entities, and businesses along
this trade route to protect, maximize, and expand commerce and the economic
vitality of the Corridor while, at the same time, identifying opportunities to relieve
congestion from seaports, land ports, railroads and interstates, as well as addressing
negative environmental impact concerns and safety and security matters.
• The 3,300 mile high-volume goods movement Corridor follows existing rail and
interstate routes. The Corridor follows the southwest-northeast trade route from
Laredo, Texas to Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario via Dallas, Little Rock,
Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo. The Corridor also
follows the Interstate 45 corridor moving goods to and from the Port of Houston
and the Interstate 10 corridor and rail route from the ports of Los Angeles and Long
Beach through Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, El Paso and Fort Worth into Dallas.
 NAFTA Superhighway and SPP
• The proposed highway is part of a broader
plan advanced by a quasi-government
organization called the “Security and
Prosperity Partnership of North America,” or
SPP.
• The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the
heads of state of Canada, Mexico, and the
United States at a summit in Waco.
 NAFTA Superhighway and SPP
cont.
• The SPP was not created by a treaty between the
nations involved, nor was Congress involved in any
way. Instead, the SPP is an unholy alliance of foreign
consortiums and officials from several governments.
One principal player is a Spanish construction
company, which plans to build the highway and
operate it as a toll road. But don’t be fooled: the
superhighway proposal is not the result of free market
demand, but rather an extension of government-
managed trade schemes like NAFTA that benefit
politically-connected interests. Ron Paul
 NAFTA SH and SPP cont.
• The real issue is national sovereignty.
• The ultimate goal is not simply a
superhighway, but an integrated North
American Union – complete with a
currency, a cross-national bureaucracy,
and virtually borderless travel within the
Union. Ron Paul
 NAFTA SH and SPP cont.
• Like the European Union, a North American
Union would represent another step toward
the abolition of national sovereignty
altogether.
• The SPP agreement, including the plan for a
major transnational superhighway through
Texas, is moving forward without
congressional oversight – and that is an
outrage. Ron Paul
 KC SmartPort
• The Kansas City SmartPort is an “inland
port” that is proposed to handle
Mexican customs and inspections. It is
to be the link between seaports in
Mexico and major truck, air and rail
lines in the United States, all the way to
Manitoba, Canada.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• After cargo arrives at Mexican seaports (mostly
from Asia), it is to be shipped to Kansas City, and
from there to the rest of the US and Canada. The
cargo will be approved and screened for security
in a Mexican port. Trucks and rail are to be
inspected for safety in Mexico. According to press
reports, there will be a US “border inspection"
when the cargo reaches the Mexican border.
Source: Naftasuperhighway.org
 KC SmartPort cont.
• ...a very small percentage of cargo is inspected
by Homeland Security. They will rely primarily
on the port personnel in Mexico. The vast
majority of cargo will pass through the border
unimpeded and will not be inspected. We will
be relying on other countries to keep us safe
from terrorism, nuclear waste and semi-trucks
full of illegal immigrants, guns, drugs or other
illegal cargo.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• U.S. Sovereignty. A Mexican customs office is
planned for Kansas City (with the innocuous
name of (Kansas City Customs). If the U.S. State
Department approves it, this will be the first
foreign customs operation on US soil, and there is
a concern that Mexico will have sovereignty in
their facilities (ie, Mexican customs office will not
be subject to US laws). This is currently on hold
by the US State Department.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• U.S. jobs will permanently be lost. Good paying union
jobs in the US for American truckers, railway workers,
airline staff, warehouse personnel and dockworkers will
permanently shift to non-Americans. For example, the
Mexican Ports that are being developed are funded and
run in part by a Hong-Kong shipper. Additionally, the
Texas-Trans Corridor (a piece of the superhighway) is to
be contracted out to a Spanish company to build and
operate. We don't know how many TTC related jobs will
go to US Citizens, and how many will go to foreigners.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• Kansas City taxpayers are providing a loan
(and the property) for the construction of the
Mexican customs facility!

Eminent Domain. New highways like the

TTC, will take up millions of acres of land
through the use of eminent domain.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• PPP-Private Public Partnerships. This is how much
of the superhighway system will be built. Private
companies will lease the highway infrastructure, and
they will recoup their investment plus profit with tolls
and receipts from concessions (gas stations,
restaurants, etc.) American highways will be
effectively owned, controlled and maintained by
foreign companies that will make a profit. For existing
(not new) highways, taxpayers will literally pay for the
same highway twice.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• Phyllis Schlafly wrote in an article at
www.worldviewweekend.com the following:
• Joyce Mucci and Francis Semler forced the
release of the emails from Kansas City to
Mexico, including one admitting that "The
space [in Kansas City] would need to be
designated as Mexican sovereign territory."
 KC SmartPort cont.
• As laid out on SmartPort’s web site, the plan
is to enable cheap-labor products made in
Communist China to travel in sealed
"containers nonstop from the Far East by way
of Mexico," through "a ships-to-rail terminal at
the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico," then
up "the evolving trade corridor" to Kansas
City, Missouri, where they would have their
first inspection.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• The Kansas City city council has
already earmarked $2.5 million in loans
and $600,000 in direct aid (of taxpayers'
money) to SmartPort, which would build
and own the facility and then sublet it to
the Mexican government.
 KC SmartPort cont.
• The last piece in finalizing this project is
getting the U.S. State Department to
approve the Mexican operation on U.S.
soil by signing off on what is called the
C-175 document. It has already been
approved by U.S. Customs.
 Interesting Facts
• In June (2006), a Spanish firm paid $1.3 billion for a 50-
year lease to operate a 10-lane toll road through the heart of
Texas. Also in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid
$3.8 billion to lease the Indiana tollroad for 75 years. Last
year, Chicago sold a 99-year lease on the eight-mile
Chicago Skyway to the same buyer for $1.8 billion, and the
tolls are expected to double. Almost weekly, we learn about
other American properties that have been sold or leased-
long-term to foreign companies. The tolls from the U.S. side
of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, belong
to an Australian company.
 More Interesting Facts
• Why the rush to sell our transportation systems to
foreigners? Like most actions that are hard to
understand, "follow the money" explains all. State and
local governments pocket the money up front and get
to spend it here and now, so politicians can cover their
runaway budget deficits and enjoy the political
rewards of spending for new facilities. They ignore the
fact that U.S. citizens must pay tolls to foreign
landlords for the next two or three or even four
generations.
 I 69
• Jobs: I-69 is estimated to spawn more than 40,000 new jobs by
2025, resulting in $12.8 billion in additional wages and $24
billion in added value.
• Economic Development: I-69 is expected to increase
economic activity throughout the eight state corridor, where 4.2
million residents live below poverty level.
• Trade Efficiency: I-69 is the shortest route between the
Northeast and South Texas. It will reduce travel time, fuel
consumption and costs over the existing circuitous route and
serve the largest segments of U.S. trade with Mexico and
Canada.
 I 69 cont.
• Because of geography, economic development and
commerce on both sides of the border, Texas is the
funnel through which the majority of land-based U.S.-
Mexico trade must pass. For this reason, we must do
all we can to strengthen Texas roads and their
connections to our water ports, airports and rail
lines.”
• --U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas
 I 69 cont.
• “Having a good land transportation system. . .
good ports and airports is probably the most
important element for the future of NAFTA . . .
For many firms, a reduction in transportation
costs would be more significant than reduced
costs brought about by lowering or
eliminating tariffs.”
• --Luis Fernando de la Calle, Director,
Mexican Embassy NAFTA Office
 Conclusion
• Is RRRA/Tex Americas a part of NAFTA?
• What kind of jobs will be created at
RRRA/Tex Americas?
• Will I 69 have toll sections? If so, who will
build and own those sections?
• How do we protect our sovereignty at
RRRA/Tex Americas?