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[The US is undergoing what is perhaps the most frenzied
road building effort since the 1950s and 60s. Why? Peak Oil is here now.
What purpose does this serve?
I suspect that it is perhaps one of the
largest giveaways of federal funds to corporate cronies in history. Much
of the money will find its way back into Neocon and Neolib pockets. It is
also sure to further weaken the Treasury and increase US indebtedness.
Second, when it comes time to effectively manage a United States in
meltdown, these roads will facilitate military control and be easier to
police than other interstate highways. Note how Arnold Schwarzenegger is a
big proponent of this, even with California's massive budget problems.
This only encourages more energy consumption and accelerates the coming
train wreck. - MCR]
INTERNATIONALIZING U.S.
ROADS
Phyllis Spivey
June 10, 2005
NewsWithViews.com
http://www.newswithviews.com/Spivey/phyllis3.htm
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section
107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
research and educational purposes.
Imagine this: your state government puts a
transportation corridor in your neighborhood. It's nearly a quarter-mile
wide. It will serve vehicles and trains and incorporate oil, gas, electric
and water lines. Try to fight it and you'll not only face the combined
might of your local, state, and federal governments, but foreign interests
as well. The internationalization of U.S. roads has begun.
We're not just talking about isolated
instances of privately-built toll roads with foreign management, as we've
seen in Southern California. We're talking about networks of toll roads
that may be built by foreign builders, managed by foreign operators,
function primarily to accommodate foreign goods, and connect U.S. roads to
similar networks in Canada, Mexico and, later, Central and South America.
Interstate 69, for example, is a planned 1600
mile national highway connecting Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. Eight
states are involved in the project: Once completed, I-69 will extend from
Port Huron, Michigan to the Texas/Mexico border.
In Texas, I-69 will be part of the Trans-Texas
Corridor (TTC) project - a 4000 mile network of existing and new toll
roads - which will create the largest private highway system in America.
Interstate 35, also called the Oklahoma to Mexico/Gulf Coast element, will
be developed as part of the TTC.
Plans call for the TTC to be 1200 feet wide
with 10 vehicle lanes (three passenger vehicle lanes in each direction),
truck lanes (two in each direction), six rail lines (three in each
direction), two tracks for high-speed passenger rail, two for commuter
rail and two for freight. The corridor will include a 200 feet
right-of-way for oil, gas, electric and water lines.
According to Corridor Watch, a group opposing
the TTC, Governor Rick Perry announced his Corridor vision in 2002,
instructed the Texas Department of Transportation to prepare an action
plan and within six-months the Department of Transportation presented the
finished product to the state Transportation Commission. "Without any
substantive discussion or debate and without public comment," the
Commission approved it, a plan projected to cost up to $185 billion and
take up to 50 years to build.
In 2003, the Texas Department of
Transportation sent representatives to Europe to find "partners," visiting
London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Barcelona. By December 2004, Texas had
selected a Spanish firm to finance and build the first segment of the TTC.
In March 2005, Department of Transportation officials, joined by Governor
Perry and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters, signed a 342-page
agreement with the firm.
Not only did the Bush Administration bless the
project, but the Federal Highway Administration announced in March 2004
that the first segment of the TTC had been granted "experimental project
status" and construction could begin before the environmental study was
complete. Work could start even before public hearings were completed.
Three months later, the Republican Party of
Texas adopted as part of its platform the following statement: "Because
there are issues of confiscation of private land, State and National
sovereignty . . . , the Party urges the repeal of (legislation)
authorizing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Further, we urge the removal of all
authorization and powers granted the Texas Transportation Commission and
the Texas Department of Transportation for the construction and operation
of the Trans-Texas Corridor."
Corridor Watch now reports widespread and
growing public opposition, describing Texans as "extremely concerned about
the state creating a transportation, communication, utility and economic
development monopoly. They are concerned about a project that will consume
584,000 acres of land impacting land owners, farms, ranches, wildlife, the
environment, communities, taxpayers, water rights, local economies, and
more."
Texans are also concerned about how the law
authorizing the TTC grants dictatorial powers to the Transportation
Commission for the taking of private property. The powers include purchase
and condemnation of property contiguous to an existing or planned segment
of the TTC, for use in constructing or operating the TTC, or for ancillary
facilities that directly benefit users of the TTC, e.g., businesses, and -
"for virtually any revenue generating purpose."
"With complete disregard for public will and
the citizens of Texas," Corridor Watch says, "our government is marching
forward." But Texas state officials are not marching alone.
Texas politicians are marching in lockstep
with international trade groups such as North America's Super Corridor
Coalition ( NASCO), the North American International Trade Corridor
Partnership, (NAITCP) and the Central North American Trade Corridor
Association (CNATCA)
NASCO (www.nasco-itc.com) describes itself as
a "public/private, non-profit corporation seeking to create an
international trade corridor system throughout North America, secure
funding for certain projects, i.e., tax dollars, and promote the
development of International Trade Processing Centers. A lobbying group,
linked to other lobbying groups, it is "partnered" with the North
America's Supercorridor Caucus in Congress and working with Senate
committees on a Multi-State International Corridor Development Program.
Tim Brown, a Bell County, Texas Commissioner is President.
NASCO opines that, because of "several
important trade agreements, the heartland of America enters a new era as a
geographic crossroad for international trade." They refer to the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) nations of Mexico, Canada, and the
U.S. and "those who will follow," doubtless meaning the CAFTA and FTAA
(pending trade agreements) countries of Central and South America. NASCO's
Web site links to the NAFTA Secretariat site where you may view "the
complete text of the NAFTA."
The NAITCP (www.naitcp.org) purports to be a
"partnership of cities of Mexico, the United States and Canada linked by a
trade corridor that works to promote economic and social development in
our region." NAITCP just held its 11th annual summit in Mexico, May 11-13.
It was called "Hemispheria, the North American Convergence Summit," and
featured working groups on "Trade and Transportation Corridors in North
America, Smart Borders, and Cultural Integration."
The CNATCA (www.cnatca.org) aims to encourage
"continued economic integration between the three North American countries
and to foster greater collective involvement in the emerging global
economy." Dedicated to "proactive global citizenship," the Association's
Web site presents the flags of Canada, the United States and Mexico both
horizontally and vertically, but as one entity, the U.S. flag between the
other two.
CNATCA's project, the Central North American
Trade Corridor, extends from Alaska through the Canadian provinces of
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, through North
Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, and Texas,
and then south of the U.S. border to Mexico City.
No wonder Texans are frustrated. How much
influence can citizens exert when policy-making goes international? This
is a question Americans everywhere should be asking, for the next trade
corridor, toll road network, or inland port could land anywhere.
Nearly two dozen states have passed
legislation allowing their transportation systems to operate toll roads
and okaying private firms to build and run them. The Bush Administration
is easing the way for states to convert car pool lanes to toll lanes, and
to allow private investors to build and operate highways. Converting
existing roads to toll corridors - thereby forcing taxpayers to pay each
time they use roads for which they've already paid - is a great revenue
producer for big spending governments.
California might be next. Governor
Schwarzenegger reportedly favors toll roads and last February offered a
provocative glimpse of California's future: "We're going to make an
announcement really soon where we're going to look at our whole
infrastructure and transportation and we have a very creative way of
financing it. We want to approach it in a very radical way and then look
at all kinds of transportation."
Could the governor be thinking of the TTC
model, transit ways built by foreign firms with foreign money in exchange
for decades of toll revenue? Providing political justification for such a
move is the state's near-bankrupt condition, years of diverting road
monies to finance general obligations, and a freeway system in crisis with
the volume of international cargo traffic exploding.
Why foreign involvement? Besides cost
considerations, modern trade agreements prohibit discrimination against
trading "partners", i.e., foreign suppliers of goods and services, even in
the area of government procurement. NAFTA, for example, mandates treatment
"no less favorable than the most favorable treatment" the U.S. accords to
its own goods and suppliers.
Another NAFTA mandate - and likely the primary
impetus for developing the Texas corridor - authorizes Mexican trucks to
transport international cargo throughout the U.S.; it also allows the
establishment of Mexican trucking enterprises in the U.S. and permits
Mexican bus services throughout the U.S.
Lawsuits based on environmental issues have
delayed implementation of these provisions, but in June 2004, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that environmental reviews were not required. The
latest holdup is an agreement on safety standards, UPI reporting in March
2005, that Mexico would not allow U.S. safety inspectors to check trucks
on its side of the border.
But expect Mexican trucks to roll soon and,
then, look out. Trade agreements with all of Central and South America are
pending. If approved by Congress - the North American Trade Corridor will
likely be linked with transportation corridors all the way to Tierra del
Fuego.
The trade agreements that have already
transformed America's culture and economy; will now slice up America's
heartland - at U.S. taxpayers' expense - decimating farmland, small
communities and, of course, property rights. Our shredded borders will
open fully to trucks, busses, and people from all points north and south,
the trucks delivering products and services once produced in the U.S.A. by
Americans.
President Bush is demanding Congressional
approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Many
legislators - even those who express outrage over present border problems
-- have already caved. Call your Congressman toll free at 1(877)762-8762.
Demand a No! vote on CAFTA.
© 2005 Phyllis Spivey - All Rights
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INTERNATIONALIZING U.S. ROADS