Topic: Globalism
Trans-Texas Corridor changes direction Ron Paul et al hail the new, scaled-down plans as "a major victory".by George Dance
(Libertarian)
Friday, June 27, 2008
In response to widespread public opposition, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) announced on June 16 that it has changed its plans for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC).
Nolan Chart readers were told about the TTC in a March article by columnist Adam Rink:
The Trans-Texas Corridor will not be just another interstate and it will be used by more than just automobiles. It will include 10 lanes for traffic, two high speed rail tracks, four standard rail tracks, utility lines, oil pipelines, and gas pipelines.
The Trans-Texas Corridor will consist of many corridors segments that are 1,200 feet wide, with each mile consuming 146 acres of land. This land is currently ranch and farm land that is being taken by eminent domain. Eminent domain is a law where the government can take land for the public good. The owner of that property is compensated at current market rates. It is estimated that 580,000 acres (906 square miles) will be taken from private owners and given to the state for the Trans-Texas Corridor....
The Trans-Texas Corridor will cost an estimated 184 billion dollars. Currently, Texas is seeking private investment to fund the Trans-Texas Corridor.... If private funding is insufficient, Texas could use public funding. Texas is actively seeking federal funding for part of the project, but Representatives like Ron Paul have submitted bills trying to block this federal funding. Most of the Trans-Texas Corridor road access will be toll roads. Toll road earnings will be used to pay investors and to maintain the roads. If public money is used to pay for part of the TTC it would become double taxation. Motorists would have to pay for tolls and pay for the road with gasoline tax revenues.
Most of the Trans-Texas Corridor roads will have limited access. This means that the Corridor will bypass many of the communities it runs through with no on-ramps or off-ramps; thus, many local communities will not benefit. Communities that depend on travel dollars will see some of that traffic siphoned off by the TTC. (1)
Rink adds that "Opponents believe that this is the start of the North American Union highway system." One such group is the NAU War Room, which posts this ominous warning on its website:
It will begin in Texas with construction of what is called the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). And eventually it would cover nearly every major region of the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"It" is the "NAFTA Superhighway." Its main purpose is to speed cheap goods produced by labor from Communist China and elsewhere in the world through Mexico and across Canada and the United States. Once completed, this monstrosity will be thousands of miles long and 1,200 feet wide, cutting each North American country into 4 overlapping "corridors."
This massive road way would, through government abuse of eminent domain, devour tens of thousands of homes, ranches, farms, and businesses. It is to be constructed by a Spanish company called Cintra. It would all but erase today's border checkpoints with Mexico and Canada. And, worst of all, its construction marks the acceleration of a larger plan to absorb America into a "North American Union (NAU)" with Canada and Mexico. (2)
Warnings like these have helped to create a broad grassroots coalition -- including landowners fearing expropriation, business owners along existing highways, truckers worried about foreign competition, and national sovereignists opposed to the NAU -- against the project. Last year, the Texas legislature imposed a two-year moratorium on new toll roads in the state.
TxDoT executive director Amadeo Saenz says that "a large share of the 28,000 comments received in 47 public hearings and 12 town hall meetings along the route expressed opposition to the project." In his June 16 conference call with reporters, Saenz unveiled new plans responding to those concerns.
The new proposal calls for a more modest Interstate highway (I-69), to be built as far as possible along existing highway rights-of-way (mainly US 59), keeping expropriation of private property to a minimum. All existing highway lanes will continue to be free; only newly constructed lanes will be tolled. No communities will lose access to the highway. Other features, like the rail tracks and pipelines, will be shelved for the time being. "Anything not on an existing highway will be set aside and not moved forward," said Saenz. (3).
In his "Texas Straight Talk" column of June 23, Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- who made the TTC and NAFTA Superhighway an issue in his recent presidential campaign -- hailed the decision as "a major victory for the people of Texas." Said Paul: "The informed and active citizen truly is a force to be reckoned with, as we have seen with the defeat of this proposal. We must keep fighting the good fight, and remain ever diligent against the encroachments of big government.... We can win if we stick together." (4)
Congressmen Kevin Brady and Solomon Ortiz also lauded the new plans, as did state senators Robert Nichols and Steve Ogden, representatives Ruben Hinojosa and John Zerwas, and the Teamsters Union. ,
The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) also praised the decision. "This is great news for landowners," said TSCRA president Jon Means. "TSCRA appreciates the agency's decision to not build the toll roads through rural lands that would threaten the private property rights of many of our members." Vice president Dave Scott concurred, but added a warning: "Unfortunately, as the population of Texas grows, more pressure is going to be applied to us. It'll be a constant battle to fight eminent domain and protect our property rights." (5)
Similarly, while calling the announcement "a great first step," the Texas Farm Bureau noted that it "does not affect the project proposals along Interstate 35, which still has miles of some of the state's best farm land under consideration as alternative stretches to the expansive highway project." Warned Kenneth Dierschke, Farm Bureau president, "we must continue to hold TxDOT's feet to the fire during the next legislative session to ensure they keep these promises." (6)
Which only reinforces Rep. Paul's conclusion:
However, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. The bittersweet aspect of this victory is that we had to fight at all. We took time away from family and friends, doing other things, to attend these meetings, inform others, write letters, post signs and submit our complaints, and we should not have had to. Government should let us be, if we are peaceful citizens, harming no one. In a perfect world, government could be trusted to act in the best interests of the people without overwhelming pressure of this kind. This is not a perfect world. Constant pressure is needed to keep government in check, and we succeeded this time. But this will not be the last time citizen efforts and involvement will be required....
It is a never-ending battle, but it must be fought, and can be won. I am proud to stand with my constituents in this fight, and in the other fights we have ahead of us. (4)
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Sources
(1) Adam Rink, "The Trans-Texas Corridor," Nolan Chart, Mar. 8, 2008. http://www.nolanchart.com/article3107.html
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2008 George Dance, all rights reserved.
Published: Friday, June 27, 2008
Last modified: Saturday, June 28, 2008
The views expressed in this
article are those of George Dance only and do not represent
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Interesting point, Asref. Some farmers are subsidized by the U.S. government. But I don't really see how expropriating some farmers' homes and land (not even necessarily the same farmers), and turning those over to different private interests for their use, is the "libertarian" answer to that. Perhaps you'd like to explain in more detail.
Posted By: kenneth smith
Date: 2008-07-01 20:05:55
Everything about this "super highway" is wrong. It violates our sovernity,infringes on personal property rights and states rights and is a huge security risk to our whole country. God bless the people who have made the public aware of this issue."WE THE PEOPLE" are at last being heard.
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2008 George Dance, all rights reserved.