The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) on Wednesday issued a final environmental impact statement for a proposed rail line that is part of a larger project aimed at facilitating more efficient trade between Mexico and the United States.
Dubbed the Green Eagle Railroad, the 1.3-mile line will be constructed and operated in Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas. It is a part of a larger Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge project, which is slated to include a new commercial motor vehicle crossing bridging the territory between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, and Eagle Pass, Tex. President Joe Biden approved the permit for the project in May of 2024.
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The final environmental impact statement includes OEA’s recommendations and mitigation measures to the Surface Transportation Board, completing its environmental review of the project. Now, the Board will assess the project’s merits when it comes to transportation, as well as the ecological record, as it moves toward a final decision on the project.
The Green Eagle would extend across the Rio Grande River on a rail bridge extending from the U.S.-Mexico border to one of Union Pacific Railroad’s existing main lines. Two location proposals were considered, including a Southern Rail and a Northern Rail, and OEA recommended that the plan move forward with the Southern Rail because it would create less noise pollution and fewer impacts on a local creek.
Puerto Verde Holdings, Green Eagle’s parent organization and the owner of the commercial trade corridor, said infrastructure must be expanded in order to ensure streamlined trade between the U.S. and Mexico.
“Mexico is now the United States’ largest and most important trading partner,” the group wrote, noting that 42 percent of all trade between the two countries makes its way through the border region encompassing Laredo, Eagle Pass and Del Rio.
Bilateral trade under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tripled since 1994, and the volume is slated to triple again by 2050. “Utilization rates for truck crossings in this region are already at two times their designed capacity. This means trucks often wait two or more hours to cross at many of the region’s bridges,” Puerto Verde wrote.
Investments in remediating these inefficiencies and backlogs must happen swiftly, the group added, as a failure to do so could risk a gross domestic product loss of $42.9 billion by 2050. It could also imperil 1.2 million jobs during the next 25 years.
The project is not to be confused with Green Corridors, another initiative designed to alleviate the logistical pressures of U.S.-Mexico trade.
In June, the Trump administration green lit plans from the Austin, Tex. freight transportation provider to create a 165-mile elevated “guideway” that will ferry freight-laden automated shuttles between Laredo, Tex. and Monterrey, Mexico. The $10 billion effort, called the Green Corridors Intelligent Freight Transportation System (GC-IFTS), aims to lessen congestion in heavily trafficked and historically gridlocked areas, alleviating the burden on both shippers and importers.
