Truth Be Tolled

"What's all that recession ruckus in Texas?"

By Hilary Hylton 

From Time Magazine

It was the shout-out heard around the world: Texas' Republican governor Rick Perry's praise for his state's tea-party protesters, accompanied by not-so-veiled references to a potential Lone Star State secession. The remarks prompted glaring red-website headlines and instant fodder for cable-TV pundits. But for Texas political insiders, Perry's waving of the flag of secession was just the latest volley in a Texas-size Republican civil war — a face-off between Perry and his potential rival for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Most observers in Texas believe Hutchison will indeed challenge Perry. She has moved from being coy about her plans to being less coy about running for governor. Still, there has been no official announcement. And so Perry has embarked on a Pavlovian political exercise: you say, "Hutchison," and he says, "Washington." Some Perry backers have even dubbed the 16-year Senate veteran "Kay Bailout Hutchison."

This week's tea parties afforded the governor an opportunity to tap into the Texas spirit of independence, a surefire crowd-pleaser in the reddest of red states, one with a profound sense of its own identity, independent history and anti-Washington sentiment. "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression," Perry told roaring tea-party crowds in Austin and Fort Worth, quoting Sam Houston, Texas' founding father.

Dressed in jeans, boots and a baseball cap with a camouflage peak and a hunting outfitter's logo, the Texas governor was one of the few major politicians to appear at the tea parties across the country. While crowds yelled "Secede! Secede!," Perry — 60 but telegenic and youthful — thought out loud that secession might be the outcome if Washington does not mend its "oppressive" high-spending, dictatorial ways. (Most experts say the notion that Texas can legally secede is mistaken, but the state does have the right to split into five states, offering the prospect of 10 U.S. Senators, math that would send cold shivers down any Democratic back.)

After the rallies, Perry downplayed his secession comments, amending them in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to say, "I'm trying to make the Obama Administration pay attention to the 10th Amendment." The so-called 10th Amendment movement, asserting the rights of the states to claim all powers not granted specifically to the Federal Government, has been grist for conservatives for more than a decade. The movement got a boost following the Democratic return to dominance in Congress and more traction when federal dictates about how to spend stimulus money raised hackles in places like Texas and South Carolina. Some two dozen state legislatures are considering or have passed resolutions supporting the 10th Amendment.

Is the governor's strategy working? While Perry was whipping up the tea-party crowds, Senator Hutchison was in Houston touting her work in Washington and her support for the federal deductability of state sales taxes. "The Senator is on the front lines in working against the Obama Administration and their unnecessary spending," her spokesman said. It was weak tea compared to Perry's red rhetoric. Straddling the Washington-Texas divide has been difficult for Hutchison. While Perry has been outspoken in rejecting federal unemployment funds, saying they would result in increased premiums for Texas employers, Senator Hutchison has been criticized for a less-than-clear stand on the issue. She voted against the stimulus bill, then said Perry should find a way to take the benefits without burdening employers in the future.

Nevertheless, one longtime Republican analyst and numbers cruncher, Royal Masset, believes Hutchison will defeat Perry and be the next governor of Texas. Polls suggest she has an early lead, and Masset points to her overwhelming victories in the past as evidence of her wide support not only among Republicans but also among independents, who can vote in Texas primaries. He has urged Perry to forgo another gubernatorial bid. Masset believes that Perry should be content with one major accomplishment: helping to create more jobs in Texas than the rest of the U.S. during his tenure. "Your place in history is secure," Masset wrote in a recent analysis piece for the Quorum Report, an insider political newsletter that circulates out of Austin, the state capital. "You would be freed up to do great things on the national scene where real power is now held by media stars such as you."

It is not likely to be advice Perry will heed. He is already the longest serving governor in Texas history — as lieutenant governor, he took over for President-elect George W. Bush in December 2000. That has given him unparalleled influence over state government, where much of the governor's power resides in appointments to boards and commissions. Masset believes that more of that kind of centralization of power "will lead to Washington-style corruption. We need new people with new ideas. We need new appointees and new blood."

All this talk of front lines, "oppressive Washington" and states' rights and cries of "Texas not taxes!" ironically comes as Texans get ready to commemorate on April 21 the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of Texas' fight for independence from Mexico. It is also the day legislative hearings will be held in Austin on Texas' 10th Amendment resolution — so far, about half the members of the house of representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of the measure, which affirms Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment and serves notice to the Federal Government "to cease and desist certain mandates." Meanwhile, Texas house Democratic leader Jim Dunnam introduced a counterresolution Thursday, disagreeing with "any fringe element advocating the 'secession' of Texas" and adding that Perry's remarks were anti-American. Perry downplayed the brouhaha, telling reporters, "This is America, baby. The First Amendment, we like that too."

Cost of the 'Dead' TTC so far

By Ben Wear

From the Austin-American Statesman

The other day, when TxDOT officials were declaring the Trans-Texas Corridor dead (sort of), questions arose about how much money had been dropped on Gov. Rick Perry’s vision of 4,000 miles of tollways, railways and utility lines. TxDOT said it didn’t have those figures available immediately.

Well, actually, the agency did have them, or at least some of them, on its Web site. Thanks to reader Sharon Barta for chasing this down on the site. She said that with the recent redesign of the TxDOT Web site the report was hard to find, but was still there. Here’s the link.

Anyway, the tab through Aug. 31, 2008 was an impressive $131 million, including $30.7 million in the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. The total includes $59.4 million for the I-35 corridor, $67.9 million for the I-69 corridor, $2.8 million for the proposed Loop 9 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and $1.2 million for expenditures applying to both the I-35 and I-69 corridor projects.

TxDOT, on its Web site, said these are the total for “engineering studies” (most of that for the federally required environmental studies going on on two of the corridors) and do not include “indirect costs.” So it’s not clear if this includes, for instance, any money spent on marketing and other public relations costs. We’ll check.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said Tuesday, and reiterated today, that the overwhelming amount of this money should not be considered wasted because the I-35 and I-69 corridor projects are still alive and probably will be built in some form someday.

On the other side of the ledger, there has been no revenue from the corridor plan so far, at least technically, and won’t be for many years. And the TxDOT spending is far from over because the environmental studies are still in progress.

TxDOT did get a $25 million payment from a consortium, led by Spanish tollroad company Cintra, that will build the southern 40 miles of Texas 130, and will get between 4.65 percent and 18 percent of the revenue in the first years of that 50-year contract. That road is not officially part of the I-35 corridor project, but in reality would be if the 300-mile tollway from San Antonio to the Oklahoma border is ever built out.

Trans-Texas Corridor gets a makeover

'Dead,' but not forgotten?

By Patrick Driscoll

From the San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN — The biggest problem with the Trans-Texas Corridor has been its name, and the outdated image it invoked.

So the Texas Department of Transportation decided to retire the title, Director Amadeo Saenz told more than 1,000 people this morning at the Texas Transportation Forum.

“We’ve decided to put the name to rest,” he said, according to a text of his speech. “The Trans-Texas Corridor as it was known will no longer exist.”

The corridor actually hasn’t existed “as it was known” for years now, Saenz explained later. It’s been evolving ever since Gov. Rick Perry unveiled the 50-year blueprint in 2002.

Back then, the vision showed 1,200-foot wide swaths of toll lanes, rail lines and utility lines criss-crossing the state.

TxDOT officials later said the roads and rails might not be in the same corridors, and so the rights of way wouldn’t have to be so wide. They also said segments would be built only as needed, and existing roads would be widened instead where possible.

But many people couldn’t shake the wide berth shown in the original drawings. They added up acreage, projected the paths of the 4,000 mile network and got scared.

“A lot of fear developed,” recalled State Sen. Robert Nichols, who at the time served on the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT. “With that fear came opposition.”

Anger from thousands of landowners and activists flooded public hearings, first in 2006 for the corridor’s twin along Interstate 35 and again last year for a route through East Texas.

TxDOT refined plans, announcing that adding lanes to I-35 south of San Antonio was the priority over a virgin route.

Last year, the Transportation Commission broadened that intention, promising to always first consider using existing rights of way for any corridor project.

Today, Saenz said the agency will also try to keep widths within 600 feet. Going wider, especially if roads and rails are put together, would be the exception rather than the norm.

“The right of way will be whatever you need to build the asset,” he said. “But the chance of it being all put together in one corridor is slim.”

Other than backpedaling from the Trans-Texas Corridor brand, and the goals and priorities set over the years, the Trans-Texas Corridor remains intact.

TxDOT still plans to partner with private corporations to build and lease projects. Toll roads, truck-only lanes and rail lanes are also still on the table.

Environmental studies for the I-35 and East Texas corridor segments still chug through the pipeline. And a development contract with Cintra of Spain and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio, for projects paralleling I-35, is still valid.

But booting the corridor’s name could freshen up the concept and maybe clear the air some before this year’s transportation-heavy legislative session starts next week.

“We can now focus on the real issue, which is additional road capacity and the means to finance the same,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas. State lawmakers plan to put TxDOT, toll roads, privatization, gas taxes and other issues in the frying pan. Carona said all financing options will be needed.

“It’s going to be a big chapter, it’s going to be a great chapter,” he said of the upcoming session.

Perry, speaking from Iraq on a conference call with reporters, concurred that the state needs private investments in roads.

“Our options are relatively limited due to Washington’s ineffectiveness from the standpoint of being able to deliver dollars or the Legislature to raise the gas tax,” he said.

“So we have to look at some other options.” Still, the name-change has roused excitement.

“We’re real pleased that a project once described as unstoppable has now screeched to a halt,” said David Stall of the citizens’ group Corridor Watch.

He said his group will continue to watch developments.

Moratorium? What moratorium?

Toll road team awarded Trans-Texas Corridor project

By Michael Lindenberger

From the June 27th Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – State officials awarded a contract Thursday to a private toll road team that has promised to put the remaining pieces in place for Gov. Rick Perry's expansive vision for the Trans-Texas Corridor, a network of superhighways stretching 1,140 miles.

The $5 million contract approved by the Texas Transportation Commission gives the team led by Texas construction powerhouse Zachry American Infrastructure and another firm, ACS of Spain, responsibility for planning billions of dollars' worth of new highways, rail lines and other projects. The team will have 18 months to add details to a plan that will begin with construction on 10 new toll roads – including eight in South Texas – by 2015.

Those roads could cost close to $3 billion, and seven of them will be clustered near U.S. Highway 77 in South Texas. Whoever builds those roads will use the toll revenues to pay for an additional $1 billion in improvements to Highway 77, making it the first interstate-quality highway in the Rio Grande Valley.

"The proposal includes innovative plans that would finally extend the interstate system into South Texas," said Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is the centerpiece of Mr. Perry's proposal to stretch highways, rail lines and utilities from top to bottom of the Lone Star State. The contract awarded Thursday involves half of that project. It's the 600 miles that will become Texas' portion of one of the largest federal highway programs in the country, the southern extension of Interstate 69. That interstate now runs from Canada to Indianapolis, but will eventually stretch to the Mexican border.

The other half of the corridor, a 540-mile north-south stretch running roughly parallel to Interstate 35, is already under development by Cintra, another large Spanish-based toll road operator. Cintra has already expanded its role beyond that of master planner and has moved ahead with plans to build the first private toll road near Austin, extending State Highway 130.

Under the terms of Cintra's initial $3.5 million planning contract, similar to the one awarded Thursday for the I-69 segment, the company was able to win TxDOT approval to build the Austin toll road without having to compete against other toll road developers. It is covering the entire cost of the road, and in return will collect escalating tolls there for 52 years.

Toll road critics, who have loudly denounced the Trans-Texas Corridor for years, reacted bitterly to the contract, which one group called a "monopolistic sweetheart deal."

"If this isn't a wake-up call to the Legislature that it's business as usual at TxDOT until they forcibly restrain them via state law, we don't know what is," said Terri Hall, founder of Texans United for Reform and Freedom. Her group opposes Mr. Perry's continued push to pay for Texas transportation needs through privatization and toll roads.

"This removes any requirement for competitive bidding, which on its face is an absolute failure of the state's fiduciary duty,"she said.

Lawmakers had attempted to slow down the state's rush to private toll roads during the 2007 session, though they've also refused to raise taxes to provide funds for the road-building that TxDOT is running out of money to pay for.

When they return in January, they're expected to weigh whether to rescind TxDOT's authority to enter into the private toll contracts at all. TxDOT officials said they hope to compromise with lawmakers.

Lawmakers urge removal of I-69 from TTC

From KLBJ Radio

A group of Houston-area representatives in Washington are urging the Texas Transportation Commission to remove I-69 from the state's plan for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. 

Congressman Kevin Brady leads the group of nine lawmakers urging Deirdre Delisi, the chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, to leave what is now US 59, the future I-69, off the Corridor list of highways. 

Brady tells News Radio 590 KLBJ adding I-69 to the TTC plan was a mistake from the onset and hopes the Texas Transportation Commission, with its new leadership, will listen to the recommendations of his Congressional Delegation.

Mr. Thirty-Nine Percent's 'reality'

By R. G. Ratcliffe

From the San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry said he will seek re-election in 2010.

During a break in the Republican Governor's Association meeting in Grapevine Thursday, Perry said he would like to return as governor.

A reporter asked him if the 2010 Republican gubernatorial field would include himself as well as U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, according to The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in stories posted to their online editions Thursday.

"I don't know about them, but it will be Perry in 2010," Perry responded.

"I don't know about the other two. You need to ask them."

Hutchison has strongly indicated that she will run but has vacillated as to whether she actually is in the race.

Dewhurst also has indicated that he would like to run for the office.

Perry became governor in December 2000 when then-Gov. George W. Bush resigned to become president. Perry won election in 2002 and re-election in 2006.

In the second contest, he defeated three opponents to win with 39 percent of the vote.

Hutchison issued a statement Thursday that said, “I am encouraged by the growing number of Texans asking me to return home to run for Governor to provide leadership for our state. It is too early to make an announcement about the 2010 race. Right now I remain committed to serving the people of Texas in the United States Senate and helping our Republican candidates win crucial elections this fall.”

Perry spokesman Robert Black confirmed the governor’s statements, but said: “It's nothing he hasn't talked about before.”

Perry has spoken about the possibility of running for re-election in 2010 before, but this is the first time that he has flatly stated that he will run.

Texas Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said that "after five years of absolute and failed Republican rule" in Texas there was no reason to think Perry would do any better with voters in 2010 than he did in 2006.

"Today, Gov. Perry's announcement that he will seek reelection in 2010 signaled that he may want to serve as Governor for life, but in 2006, a 61 percent majority of Texans already said they want someone else, and he's done nothing to inspire Texans’ confidence since then,” Richie said.

TTC public comment deadline extended

By Matthew Stoff

From The Daily Sentinel

Following a request from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, The Texas Department of Transportation announced Monday a 30-day extension on the deadline to submit public comments about the controversial Trans Texas Corridor project.

Gabriela Garcia, TxDOT's public information officer, said by telephone that the public will have until April 18 to send the state agency comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

"We were wanting to make sure that the public had more opportunity to comment on the document, and we also had received a request from Senator Hutchison to do so," Garcia said.

Substantive comments on the document, which defines the possible routes for the proposed 10-lane highway, will be addressed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Release of that document may be delayed if there is a large number of additional comments, Garcia said.

So far the agency says it has received over 14,000 comments on the DEIS.

Eminent domain use on the rise

By Carlos Guerra

From the San Antonio Express-News

In the Rio Grande Valley, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sued dozens of individuals, local governments and agencies for refusing to grant it "access" to their land so it can take it for the border wall.

After refusing access to her 3-acre plot, Eloisa Tamez was sued. She countersued and a federal judge has ordered DHS to negotiate with her in good faith.

Hundreds of miles north, in one of the Hill Country's most pristine ranches, Martha, Mary and Bebe Fenstermaker are girding for their fifth legal battle since 1989 to keep their land.

The city, Bexar County and the San Antonio River Authority want it for a dam to control flooding downstream by flooding the sisters' modest home sites, and much of the rest of their ranch, a federally registered historic district dotted with 19th-century limestone structures.

Then, there are the thousands who have found all or parts of their farms and ranches under thick lines on Texas Department of Transportation maps. TxDOT wants their land for the Trans-Texas Corridor, which will take as many as 8,000 miles of land in 1,200-foot-wide swathes for privately operated utility easements, multi-lane toll roads and railroad tracks.

These are just a few of the reasons "eminent domain" is appearing more often in Texas news reports. And as we get more Texans — but not more land — expect to hear more about governments using eminent domain to fix earlier mistakes — and for less noble purposes.

Governments' seizure powers predate our nation. Based on the notion that the sovereign owns all its territory and landholders own only an interest in the land's use, Common Law empowered monarchs to take whatever they wanted.

When America's colonies gained independence, they assumed eminent domain powers by proclaiming themselves the new sovereigns. In 1791, the U.S. Constitution was amended and eminent domain was implicitly recognized — but also limited — in the Fifth Amendment, which states, "nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

By 1829, however, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined "public good" by allowing states to empower private railroads to seize land. By 1954, this relaxation led the high court to let the District of Columbia take properties that were not blighted along with others nearby that were and hand them all to private parties for profitable redevelopment.

And in 2005, the court allowed New London, Conn., to seize a totally unblighted neighborhood and sell it to a private developer for a project city fathers believe will bring the city greater tax revenues.

Other eminent domain issues that are emerging involve local jurisdictions that, increasingly, are using eminent domain to provide infrastructure improvements — such as new schools, wider roads and drainage projects — that have been made necessary by uncontrolled development and low impact fees.

While the courts have, on the one hand, given governments greater latitude to use eminent domain to help private developers, they have also held that at times, "just compensation" is also due when governments' actions diminish the value of land that has not been seized by, for example, making it less desirable or less accessible.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature addressed this very issue with HB 2006, which allowed landowners to sue for "diminished access" to their property, instead of having to show "material and substantial damages" before seeking compensation. It passed but Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.

As growing populations make land-use restrictions more necessary, we are going to face more policy questions that will revolve around eminent domain.

It is clearly time for Congress and the Legislature to rewrite laws to assure that eminent domain powers truly serve the public good — and aren't just used to fatten private wallets.

TTC threatens Camp Allen

By Rod Sallee

From the Houston Chronicle

A Piney Woods retreat that has hosted national church conferences on controversial issues, celebrated the consecration of bishops and provided summer memories for thousands of teens now faces another kind of challenge.

The nearly two square miles of forest, hills, fields, lakes and buildings that make up Camp Allen Conference & Retreat Center, 15 miles southeast of Navasota, lie in a two-mile-wide strip listed in state documents as the preferred route for the planned Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor.

Proposed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2002, the corridor plan has drawn heated opposition at town hall meetings and public hearings throughout Southeast Texas.

Camp Allen officials have gathered more than 3,000 names on an Internet petition asking the Texas Department of Transportation not to harm the facility, beloved by many Houstonians.

Houston City Councilman Mike Sullivan was a 7th-grader in Spring Branch when his church youth group took a trip to Camp Allen.

"I had never been in the outdoors like that in my life," he said. "I can still remember taking communion there. It was my first chance to be in a place where I could think and learn about my church and kind of find myself spiritually."

Now, Sullivan said, he and his wife, Kim, and daughter, Paige, 15, drive to the camp several times a year just to spend the day or weekend.

"They have hotel rooms open to the public," he said, as well as groups visiting on various sorts of retreats. "You might see Buddhists, Muslims, Jewish groups, Catholics. They reach out to all religions."

For the past nine years, said Carol Riley of Lufkin, she has traveled with her husband, Mike, and daughters Alyson and Sarah to Camp Allen for the Christmas retreat "Holiday in the Pines."

"The serenity is indescribable and the thought of it being endangered is unimaginable," she said.

George Dehan, president of the camp, said others who have attended functions there include former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Houston Astros outfielder Lance Berkman, singer Pat Green and actress Renée Zellweger.

Although Camp Allen is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, Dehan said fewer than half of the 42,000 visitors a year are Episcopalians. The rest, he said, come from various denominations, schools, colleges and nonprofit institutions. About 7,000 are children.

Dehan said he spoke up at a public hearing in Navasota on the corridor project, and another camp staff member spoke at one in Hempstead.

"We said we are not anti-toll road or anti-free trade," he said. "We just want to make sure this doesn't impact our camp."

Dehan said he wrote Perry and received "a polite response" that advised working through the public hearings process.

"And we've talked with some TxDOT commissioners," he said. "They always say, 'Oh, it probably is not going to impact you. We think common sense will prevail.' "

Although it does seem unlikely that roadbuilders would choose to bulldoze through a plot of land that Dehan estimates is worth $50 million to $100 million and has so many friends, he said there are reasons for concern.

Partly to ease landowners' worries that the corridor would cut their holdings apart, TxDOT has said it will try to build the corridor alongside existing roads if possible. But in the segment in question that probably would be FM 362, site of the camp's front gate and hotel.

Even if TxDOT chose to go through ranchland across the road, Dehan said, the strip designated as the "Recommended Preferred Corridor" may be too narrow to protect the camp from traffic noise.

"It would be a hugely negative effect because a lot of our programs are outdoor education," Dehan said.

TxDOT spokeswoman Gabriela Garcia noted the strip on the maps is much bigger than the actual corridor is likely to be.

Even with its full potential array of separate toll roads for trucks and cars, tracks for freight and passenger trains and land for power lines and pipelines, the corridor's maximum width would be 400 yards — about one-ninth as wide as the "recommended preferred" strip.

Garcia said it would be built in segments based on traffic demand and a segment in the Navasota area may not be needed for several years.

When the segment is deemed necessary, Garcia said, the initial construction could be nothing more than a four-lane toll road shared by cars and trucks.

TxDOT is expected to select a developer for the project later this month, and the first half of the environmental clearance process is expected to end early next year, Garcia said.

Then, if federal authorities give approval, the second part of the process — when the actual route will be chosen — would begin. That process probably will take another three to five years, Garcia said.

Although TxDOT hearings on the project are over, the public may submit comments for an Environmental Impact Statement through March 19. This may be done online at www.keeptexasmoving.com or by letter to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761.

No country for new roads

(Photo: D. Fazackerley)

The Texas Department of Transportation recently admitted what many of us have known all along: La Entrada al Pacifico is indeed part of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The following article gives a taste of what's at stake for West Texas.

By Whitney Joiner

From Time Magazine

This far West Texas town is so isolated that while you can cross the Mexican border in less than an hour for lunch, the nearest shopping mall is 200 miles (about 320 km) away. Those who live around here take immense pride in the desolate landscape that served as the backdrop for the films with the most Academy Award nominations this year, Joel and Ethan Coen's murderous "No Country for Old Men" and Paul Thomas Anderson's epic, "There Will Be Blood." But instead of buzzing about their potential golden night at the Oscars, locals are more concerned these days with a very real unfolding drama that has the potential to devastate the views, the unpolluted air and the tranquil lifestyle they hold dear.

The potential villain in this story is La Entrada al Pacifico, a NAFTA trade route signed into law 11 years ago by then governor George W. Bush. It hasn't been built yet, but it may still become a reality, thanks to lobbying from the nearby city of Midland--which would become a distribution and warehousing huband the support of Midland's state representative, who happens to be speaker of the Texas House. If approved and constructed, the route would significantly increase the number of long-haul trucks bringing goods from Mexico through Marfa. In 2006, the average number of trucks crossing the U.S. border at Presidio and being driven the 60 miles (about 100 km) north to Marfa each day was 17. With La Entrada, that number would be anywhere from 300 to 800 trucks a day. To make room, a pair of two-lane roads will be widened to four-lane divided highways. Allison Scott, a 29-year Marfa resident, knows exactly what that will sound like. "Marfa is so peaceful," she says. "When I go out at 5 a.m. and look up at the stars, the silence is just so amazing ... La Entrada would definitely bring the silence to an end."

The idea behind La Entrada al Pacifico (Corridor to the Pacific) is to ease overconcentration of Asian trade in Southern California by diverting goods to a port in western Mexico and transporting them to Midland. Marfans see a plan that could fill Midland's pockets but potentially devastate Marfa's culture, lifestyle and economy, based in large part on tourism thanks to Marfa's proximity to Big Bend National Park and its reputation as an artists' haven (artists and galleries have been a fixture in town since celebrated sculptor Donald Judd relocated here from New York in the '70s).

Days after a March 2007 public meeting on the project, attended by nearly 400 West Texas residents--none of whom supported it--the fight against La Entrada began. Local businesses sold STOP LA ENTRADA T shirts; residents joined letter-writing campaigns and launched anti-Entrada blogs. Some Marfans have devised creative ways to fight the corridor. Gary Oliver, 60, a political cartoonist for the local newspaper, has composed a protest song on his accordion. "Move to Marfa for the peaceful life,/ So far away from the stress and strife," he sings. "Then you put your ear down on the highway floor,/ Hear the many trucks in the distance roar ... La Entrada, here come a lot of highway blues."

And Vicente Celis, 42, who moved here from Mexico in 2003, shows off the digital slide show he's developing, An Inconvenient Truth--style, to explain La Entrada to other residents. He makes reference to the documentary's swimming-frog example of global warming--the frog that doesn't realize it's boiling because the water temperature increases so slowly. "The same thing is going to happen to us," says Celis. "But [we] don't have to let people boil us."

Residents do have hope. The arrival of massive numbers of 18-wheelers depends on Mexico's infrastructure. So far, work on the trans-Mexican highway hasn't broken ground, and the port in western Mexico needs repair. The results of a government-funded study about how well the plan would work for West Texas will be released soon. But for the locals who see this land as a refuge--and, on occasion, a Hollywood backdrop--the decision to build or not to build isn't even a question.