Posted on 06/12/2006 6:23:16 AM PDT by conservativecorner
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.
As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.
NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a “non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America.” Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.
Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an “investor based organization supported by the public and private sector” to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: “For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality.”
The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an “SPP office” that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that “(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented.” The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road. The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.
A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.
The fact that some companies will make use of the road hardly makes their use exclusive or anything resembling the Kelo scenario.
I guess you're okay with new roads so long as no companies use them?
Or are you against all new roads?
BULLETIN: Foreign ownership of land or buildings in America does not transfer sovereignty.
The exception would be embassies. The only exception.
North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc., is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world’s first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America.
The NASCO Corridor encompasses Interstate Highways 35, 29 and 94, and the significant east/west connectors to those highways in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Corridor directly impacts the continental trade flow of North America. Membership includes public and private sector entities along the Corridor in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
From the largest border crossing in North America (The Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Canada), to the second largest border crossing of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, extending to the deep water Ports of Manzanillo and Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico and to Manitoba, Canada, the impressive, tri-national NASCO membership truly reflects the international scope of the Corridor and the regions it impacts.
NASCO has officially amalgamated with the former North American International Trade Corridor Partnership, which was a non profit organization in Mexico dedicated to economic development and improving trade relations through the heartland of America to Canada and Mexico. NASCO and the NAITCP have worked together successfully in the past, and now, with the amalgamation, will operate as one organization under the name NASCO, with a shared mission and objectives.
The North American Inland Port Network (NAIPN), a sub-committee of NASCO, has been tasked with developing an active inland port network along our corridor to specifically alleviate congestion at maritime ports and our nation’s borders. The NAIPN envisions an integrated, efficient and secure network of inland ports specializing in the transportation of containerized cargo in North America. The main guiding principal of the NAIPN is to develop logistics systems that enhance global security, but at the same time do not impede the cost-effective and efficient flow of goods. NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) for the development of a technology and tracking project. The project will have a team approach, using members of NASCO as the primary participants in the project, to the extent possible. NASCO believes the deployment of a modern information system will reduce the cost, improve the efficiency, reduce trade-related congestion, and enhance security of cross-border and corridor information, trade and traffic.
Seriously, you do your argument no favor by deliberately distorting the meaning of the term "sovereign territory."
Tell me how the right to self government and individual liberty in America is protected by allowing foreign corporations to commandeer the US constitution, condemn private property and operate toll roads in US sovereign territory for private gain?
Exactly--we didn't have a chance to debate it; much less vote on it. The elitists can't be bothered with such nuisances.
My guess is that your typical protectionist would insist that the road be built, but not connect to anything.
The authority to condemn rests with the state. The State of Texas will own the right of way. The state has the final say about where the corridor runs. Zachry and Cintra will own the improvements built on the TTC rights of way for 50 years after which the ownership will revert to the state. Considering the magnitude of the proposed projects, it is a good idea to have a contractor that has experience running toll roads regardless of its nationality.
C'mon. It's your m.o. Say something outrageous and incorrect, and then spend the rest of the thread backpedaling. It grows tiresome.
Don't move to within 100 miles of where this thing's gonna be!
You know, it's kinda funny to watch everyone get worked up over this when there really isn't anything there.
Someone is being played for a fool, it isn't you or I and it sure as hell isn't Jerome Corsi....you make the call on that one :)
The US has customs located in foreign airports. If you were to fly from Toronto (YYZ) to New York La Guardia (LGA), you would go through US Customs in Toronto before boarding the plane. If there were no customs screening prior to boarding, it wouldn't be possible to use La Guardia for an international flight, because La Guardia has no customs facility.
Please provide a link proving that a customs port for American exports in Missouri becomes sovereign Mexican territory.
OMG, it's true!! Time to PANIC!!! President Bush has been "quietly" planning this "NAFTA Superhighway" since at least 1997:
http://www.ambassadorbridge.com/nafta_case.html
About the NAFTA Superhighway Coalition
On July 23, 1997, The NAFTA Superhighway Coalition was formed. It is a not-for-profit corporation. Its mission is to team Federal and Provincial authorities with private business to promote a National Transportation Policy that will include improvements to Highway 401 and associated corridors for facilitating the movement of people and goods to and from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The Coalition is regional in perspective since Highway 401 and associated corridors stretch across numerous regions in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Hence, its scope embraces many communities including Windsor, Sarnia, Chatham, London, Hamilton, Fort Erie, Barrie, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
The formation of the Coalition was prompted by the realization that border truck traffic has close to doubled since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1994, and projections are that traffic will double again between the years 2000 and 2010. It is the Coalition's position that the 401 is and will remain the primary route for facilitating North American trade, and therefore the Federal and Provincial governments, which were parties to the NAFTA agreement, are obligated to commit the necessary funding to improve and expand the infrastructure to safely and efficiently accommodate the intensification of traffic.
The Coalition is motivated by a compelling vision of trade and the movement of goods in the 21st century. This vision includes:
International trade will be primarily North-South
Canada and the United States will continue to be each other's number one trading partner.
Trucks and highways will continue to become the backbone of the new economy. Currently, 76% of the movement of just-in-time goods is by trucks.
The business world will continue to cluster around just-in-time arrangements.
Warehousing will become obsolete as trucks become moving warehouses in a just-in-time world.
Transportation corridors will have to become wider, safer, cleaner, and geared towards enabling the smooth, fast movement of trucks.
Highway 401 is the spine, the common thread that connects the important centres of Canada's industrial heartland covered by the associated corridors which include the 400 Highway series in Ontario and their counterparts in Quebec.
Without a commensurate improvement to Highway 401 and associated corridors, Canadian exports and participation in NAFTA will falter - with proportionate impacts on the Canadian economy at large.
Improvements to the 401 as NAFTA's Superhighway will ensure that enormous economic opportunities will continue for the respective cities, towns and communities. Once the 401 is upgraded, these communities will be the preferred location for industry, investment and jobs.
WHAT WILL THE COALITION DO?
The Coalition is committed to making the 401 a state of the art, high-speed, safe, clean, automated superhighway that ensures the smooth, fast transportation of goods between Canada and the U.S. Simultaneously, the Coalition is also dedicated to improving the 400 series of highways in Ontario and their counterparts in Quebec to ensure the unobstructed flow of trade in the whole region comprising Ontario and Quebec.
To make this goal a reality, the NAFTA Superhighway Coalition will:
Bring together - as stakeholders - the cities and communities along the 401 and associated corridors so that public opinion may be brought to bear on the respective decision-makers.
Present a focused, persuasive, and compelling case to governments at all levels so that the proper legislation may be enacted and adequate funding allocated to the superhighway concept.
Work closely with NAFTA Superhighway counterparts and allies in the U.S. and Mexico.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
We must take responsibility for the future of our communities and the entire region. Nothing happens automatically. We need to influence the course of events.
We are at a point where conditions are conducive to firmly establishing the 401 as the region's key NAFTA link. Already, considerable groundwork has been done in the U.S. by many groups including North America's Superhighway Coalition, Summit of the Mayors, the I-94 International Trade Alliance, Corridor 18 and others.
To influence our own destiny, we must steer the NAFTA trade benefits to our communities. Ontario and Quebec can continue to be world leaders in manufacturing an export but only if the overall system of Canadian transportation is improved and modernized. The potential is staggering:
Canada is the #1 trading partner of the U.S. As a result of the NAFTA partnership, Mexico will surpass Japan as the #2 U.S. trading partner by the year 2000.
NAFTA trade among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico is expected to double to $646 billion by the year 2000, more than doubling again to 1.5 trillion by the year 2010.
The value of merchandise trade between Canada and the U.S. is more than $1 billion per day.
The U.S. buys 80% of Canada's exports.
Nearly 75% of trade between Canada and the U.S. is by truck.
Nearly 70% of Canada's industrial activity is in Ontario and Quebec.
The 401 and associated corridors serve the Ontario and Quebec automobile industry.
The 401 is the main trade route between Canada and the U.S. All regions in Ontario and Quebec will prosper if the 401 and associated corridors are improved and modernized.
WHO CAN BECOME A MEMBER OF THE COALITION?
Governmental organizations, including municipalities, Government of Ontario, Government of Quebec, and the Federal Government as well as the neighboring American States.
Private Sector corporations who participate in Canada-U.S trade activities.
Chambers of Commerce and Trade Associations.
Academic Institutions that are concerned about the economic prosperity of their area.
Individuals and/or organizations who are concerned about the future of their communities.
To become a member, please contact the Coalition Office at 3255 Wyandotte Street East, Windsor, Ontario N8Y 1G1 or call (519) 256-5530, fax (519) 253-9113, or Email to: kbrown@gwi.on.ca
WHATS NEXT?
Much will be accomplished if we can work together as partners to enable communities along the 401 and associated corridors to impress upon the Federal and Provincial governments the importance of designating Highway 401 and associated corridors as the NAFTA Superhighway. All communities under the 401 corridor umbrella must present a unified, powerful, and compelling message, stressing eloquently the needs and interest of all of us who depend on the 401 and associated corridors from Windsor to Quebec City.
The first step is to forge a united front among interested communities. The Coalition will work with the communities within the 401 and associated corridors (in Ontario and Quebec) to strike their own task forces bringing together all legal stakeholders.
Next, the Coalition will work with the local task forces such that a coalition embracing all of them will be formed. This coalition will present a strong case and speak with a strong voice to all levels of government.
Simultaneously, the respective communities will be asked to obtain supportive resolutions from their municipal councils, county and regional governments where appropriate.
The Coalition intends to become active and visible through informative and persuasive communities with Federal and Provincial authorities.
Really? Now foreign corporations are comandeering the US Constitution?
Can you possibly get a little more hysterical? Are you this worked up over Toyota dealerships in your town?
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