PHARR, TEXAS – Pharr Economic Development Corporation and Hidalgo County are working to bring a new foreign trade zone to the Rio Grande Valley. There are currently two FTZs in the RGV, one in McAllen and the other at the Port of Brownsville. The one in McAllen is nearly full. Pharr EDC President Victor Perez said he and his team are resurrecting a plan that was first discussed back in 2015. At the time, McAllen EDC was opposed to the idea. “This was started years back, I think before COVID. The cities of Weslaco, Donna, Edinburg and Pharr had talked about it. Now, with all the new business w ..read more

Judge Treviño, commissioners, thank you very much for allowing me the time to be here this morning. I know I don’t have very much time so I’m going to jump right into this. The first thing that I wanted to start off with was safety. Safety is our number one concern with regards to community, with regards to our employees, and with regards to the environment. There’s a number of things that we’re doing. All people on site today and all people that will be working in operations have a mandate that if they see something unsafe, they have the obligation to stop work. So, if there’s a maintenance ..read more

The announcement of the proposed new Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) and filing of the regulatory paperwork has made quite a splash recently. The fact that two of the heaviest hitters in the investment world, BlackRock and Citadel Securities, are behind the initiative lends instant credibility. In addition, the TXSE is a clear indication of how the financial landscape is changing. One goal of the TXSE is to be more “CEO-friendly.” The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ have implemented cumbersome and expensive regulations which are viewed by many company executives as excessive. By providi ..read more

Just to refresh everybody’s memory. Rio Grande LNG leased a 984-acre site from the Port of Brownsville. The project will consist of five LNG trains. The estimated investment on the project is $18 billion with $12 billion of that being for phase one alone, with trains one to three.  At the peak there will be over 5,000 construction jobs or five to seven years. At full build out the project will have 437 permanent jobs with an average salary of $100,000 per year and the annual payroll will be $43.7 million. Tax receipts are projected in Cameron County alone from expenditures in local busin ..read more

Judge, commissioners, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. I feel really honored to be able to be in this beautiful building. Good memories. Judge you are right. There’s some major interest in both LNG companies coming to Brownsville. And just like Flor de Mayo (International Bridge) has taken well over 20 years, deepening the channel has taken over more than 20 years. When I became a port commissioner ten years ago, the other commissioners, they were all busy. We all are. They felt like that I was probably the least busy since I was kind of semi-retired. So, I got the honor to ..read more

The Board of Directors of the Texas Tropical Trail Region is concerned that the future of the historic San Juan Hotel may be in jeopardy. We understand that the hotel was recently purchased by the City of San Juan and that there are plans to demolish the landmark building. We urge you to consider the negative impacts to the region’s cultural heritage if the building is lost. The Texas Tropical Trail Region’s mission is to identify, preserve, interpret, and promote the natural, historic, and cultural resources of South Texas. We exist as part of the Texas Historical Commission’s Texas Heritage ..read more

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – When Davide Keane, representative for NextDecade, spoke at a recent public hearing hearing hosted by Cameron County Commissioners Court, he failed to mention a project to deepen the Port of Brownsville’s ship channel. This surprised Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. “Surprisingly, neither one of you mentioned it but in addition to the other investment, one of the capital infrastructure (components) you’re assisting and helping pay for is the deepening of the channel at the port,” Treviño. The two people that had the opportunity to bring up the ship channel deepening ..read more

EDINBURG, Texas – Growth, growth, and more growth. That was the message Carlos Garza, project manager for Edinburg Economic Development Organization, made a pitch to investors from India. The event was hosted by the Council for South Texas Economic Progress and was held at the Casa De Palmas in McAllen. “One of the things that we boast here is that we are the fifth fastest growing city in Texas. That’s Edinburg. We are actually ranked 12th in the United States. Why is that? Because we have over 140 subdivisions in preliminary review, construction or construction review. That totals over 5,700 ..read more

MCALLEN, Texas – Belén Guerrero, Mission Economic Development Corporation’s chief operating officer, recently spoke to investors that are keen to bring manufacturing and high-tech companies from India to the Rio Grande Valley. The event was hosted by the Council for South Texas Economic Progress and was held at the Casa De Palmas in McAllen. Guerrero said there were great opportunities for Indian companies to expand into Mission. “We focus on four major functions: corporate attraction, business retention and expansion, incentive navigation, and business development within our community,” Guer ..read more

Texas LNG did submit an application for a tax abatement, they did pay the necessary fee. So, this is a rendering of the proposed site for Texas LNG which will also be at the Port of Brownsville. This is a site location map from the appraisal district, the location where they propose to construct their LNG. And again, this is just an aerial view of the location. What Texas LNG has done is leased a 625-acre site at the port of Brownsville. They are proposing a $2.8 billion capital investment to construct two LNG trains. They are proposing at least 1,274 construction jobs over six years with a t ..read more