During the business
session (Dec.6,'04) of the state’s largest farm organization’s 71st
annual convention the Texas Farm Bureau delegates “overwhelmingly
rejected the statewide transportation and infrastructure plan” – the
Trans Texas Corridor.
The Texas Farm
Bureau release notes, “the disproportionate burdens the Trans Texas
Corridor plan would impose upon rural Texans, delegates opposed the
state acquiring additional farm and ranch lands through the power of
eminent domain for the construction of the Corridor.”
[news release]
Issues identified
included, “additional time and cost related to moving equipment from
one side of a farm or ranch to the other because of division by the
corridor; economic damages due to the lack of exits to small Texas
towns; additional tax burdens passed on to local taxpayers for
property removed from the tax base; and the negative effect on
wildlife and hunting in many areas of the state.”
“We feel it would
be appropriate to improve existing state and federal transportation
rights-of-way to help move the Texas transportation system forward,”
delegates said. “We prefer no new rights-of-way for transportation
corridors. However, if new rights-of-way are absolutely necessary,
we would prefer additional space for corridors be located adjacent
to existing rights-of-way.”
A story aired the
morning of December 7, 2004, on the Texas State News (TSN) radio
network reported that attempts to water down the opposition policy
were shouted down by Farm Bureau delegates. The TSN headline, Texas
Farm Bureau votes to kill the controversial Trans Texas Corridor.
A story in December
7th's San Antonio Express-News reports that “political heavyweights”
Governor Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay
Bailey Hutchison addressed more than 1,000 at the Texas Farm Bureau
convention held at the Marriott Rivercenter. They called it, “a
reminder of how powerful agricultural interests are in
Texas.”
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