Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News
By Diana M. Alba
SANTA TERESA, N.M. – Amid a backdrop of national uncertainty about the economy, a slate of New Mexico’s top elected officials Monday heralded the growth that could originate with a new $400 million Union Pacific project in Santa Teresa.
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and three of the state’s five congressional representatives – U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Jeff Bingaman, Democrats, and Rep. Steve Pearce, Republican – were on hand to mark the start of construction on a new rail yard and intermodal facility, along the international border.
Bingaman noted he doesn’t attend nearly as many groundbreaking ceremonies these days as he once did, acknowledging the country’s economic situation in recent years. Even so, he seemed optimistic.
“Union Pacific deserves great credit for reminding us, with the investment they’re now making today and the work they’re beginning today, that the economy of this country is going to come roaring back, and they’re going to be ready when it does come roaring back,” he said to a crowd gathered just south of a Santa Teresa industrial park.
The facility, expected to take four years to build, will create some 3,000 construction jobs over a four-year construction schedule, officials said. Some 600 permanent jobs would be created, once operations start.
The facility would serve as a place to refuel locomotives and transfer shipping containers from trucks to rail and vice versa. Union Pacific officials said it will serve as focal point for products being shipped to both the East and West coasts.
Martinez said the southern New Mexico region is ripe for economic growth along the international border, but the state hasn’t taken advantage of that in past years.
“New Mexico has not made the most of its strategic positioning in the region, and that changes today,” she said.
The company awarded 65 percent of its first wave of contracts to local companies and is making a commitment to continue that investment, said Jim Young, chairman and CEO of Union Pacific. Also, it’s working with Dona Ana Community College to make sure residents are trained to work at the facility when it’s done.
“We will do everything we can to hire local,” he said.
In the distance, two Union Pacific locomotives and a tailing train were positioned strategically behind officials, as they addressed the crowd of dignitaries and businessmen.
Instead of the stereotypical groundbreaking with shovels and hard hats, officials signed their names into wet concrete blocks, which a Union Pacific official said will eventually be incorporated into the rail hub.
“We’ll have a wall that will enshrine the folks who are here today kicking off this project in a way that will stay with this facility throughout its life,” said Bob Turner, Union Pacific senior vice president, corporate relations.
Attendee Victoria Perea of El Paso, who retired from El Paso Electric Co. as an economic development liaison, said talk of the rail hub has been in the pipeline for years, but the project is finally materializing. She credited the governor, who she also said is a longtime friend.
“Economic development happens over time,” said Perea, a La Mesa native. “I believe there’s a lot of potential, but the potential is in the future.”
Pearce said in a statement he’s promoted the project since 2005 and is “happy to see this work coming to fruition in the form of jobs for New Mexico.”
“New jobs are the key to economic security, which is why I have made jobs my top priority in Congress,” he said.
Udall, too, highlighted the jobs that will result.
“The best thing is the good news of growing jobs here in New Mexico, which is what we need to do in Washington,” he said. “It’s what we need to do at the local level, because that’s what people want right now.”
The facility will be 11.5 miles long and one mile wide and entail 26 buildings and 200 miles of railroad track, according to a Union Pacific news release.
Monday’s gathering was reminiscent of one in October 2006 in Santa Teresa, when Union Pacific officials said construction on the hub could have started in 2008, if a key train fuel tax break were granted by the Legislature. The project never started.
What put the project on hold in recent years was the national economy, said Aaron Hunt, director of corporate relations and media for Union Pacific. But Hunt said the company certainly is moving forward now.
“We’re in it for the long-haul at this point,” he said.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443
