Work continues on new Pharr-to-Port Mansfield empowerment zone corridor

ALAMO, Texas – The Shepherd Group has resurrected its plans to develop an empowerment zone between the Pharr International Bridge and Port Mansfield.

The group worked with state Rep. Ryan Guillen, a member of the Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety, on the project during the last legislative session.

Shepherd Group Director Ron Whitlock says he has asked Gov. Greg Abbott to support the initiative by pumping $25 million into the project. He is also hopeful that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn will bring up the subject with Mexico’s incoming president, Claudia Sheinbaum, at her inauguration in Mexico City on Oct. 1.

“Everybody has heard of an empowerment zone, but we prefer to call it a Broadband Technology Secure International Supply Chain Corridor,” Whitlock said. “Homeland Security is key component, which is why Mr. Stacy W. Forbes, a retired federal law enforcement officer, border security and U.S.-Mexico trade subject matter expert, is a partner on this project.”

Whitlock said W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, can also play a key role on the security side.

Whitlock said the empowerment zone would stretch from the Pharr and Donna international bridges to Port Mansfield. “These are the two bookends of the corridor because we see great potential for an international trade route between the Pharr and Donna bridges and Port Mansfield. Now the ship channel has been dredged, Port Mansfield is gearing up for commercial activity.”

Whitlock said the zone would also include the Delta region.

“Including the Delta in our plans is important because of the economic distress caused by the closure of the RGV Sugar Mill. We want to bring high tech jobs to this part of the Rio Grande Valley,” Whitlock said.

Letter to Abbott

Whitlock wrote a letter in preparation for Gov. Abbott’s meeting with the South Texas Alliance of Cities in McAllen earlier this week. Here is a copy of the letter:

It was great to see Gov. Abbott at the South Texas Alliance of Cities quarterly meeting. Here’s a question I was going to ask the Governor and W. Nim Kidd, at the event, in advance of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s attendance at President Sheinbaum’s inauguration. 

Governor Abbott, the outgoing President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was extremely mad at you when you ordered the Texas Department of Public Safely inspect Mexican trucks at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge. The bottlenecks caused by the inspections resulted in millions of dollars of losses as fresh produce rotted on the trucks.

With your permission, I’d like to offer a solution, or olive branch, if you will, that Texas’ senior US Senator, John Cornyn, might suggest when he meets Mexico’s new President, Claudia Sheinbaum, in Mexico City this coming Monday, October 1, 2024.

Would you and Texas A&M Vice-Chancellor and Texas Division of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd support the creation of a broadband technology secure international supply chain corridor that initially begins at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, and connects with the communities surrounding the now closed sugar mill in Santa Rosa?

As you know, the sugar mill had to close due to lack of irrigation water. And this was caused by Mexico not honoring its water treaty obligations to the United States.

The 500 workers who lost their jobs at the sugar mill would have a better chance of economic success if they resided in a secure international supply chain corridor.

The corridor would continue eastward through Willacy County, taking in Raymondville and ending at Port Mansfield.

Your TXDOT appointees, such as, the Rio Grande Valley’s Alex Meade, and TXDOT Chairman Bruce Bugg have already invested $14 million dollars on building docks, a truck bypass of residential areas and a queuing yard for cargo at Port Mansfield. They have also invested $150 million on the International Border Trade Corridor between the Pharr and Donna bridges.

Additionally, at the federal level, Sen. Cornyn and U.S. Reps Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar have already appropriated $41 million in federal funds to dredge the chip channel and main harbor of Port Mansfield.

All that’s needed right now is for you, Governor Abbott and A&M Vice-Chancellor Kidd, to agree to work with Texas state Rep. Ryan Guillen, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee of the Texas House, and myself a second time, this upcoming legislative session to fund the $25 million for broadband homeland economic security infrastructure that Stacy Forbes and I requested, and that you and your chief of staff work with us as you have done in previous Texas legislative sessions.

May I, and the mayors assembled here today, whose communities could benefit from this effort, have your and Vice Chancellor Kidd’s support today?

Ron Whitlock

The Shepherd Group 

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