Despite denials from the Brownsville and Rio Grande International Railroad president Norma Torres about ongoing negotiations between that entity and Colorado-based Patrick Broe, owner of the Broe Group, reports about a deal in the making between both have increased.
The Brow Groups is a diverse multibillion-dollar portfolio that spans the length of the U.S. and Canada and ranges from office buildings to oil and gas wells to a shipping port on Hudson Bay.
When handed an information request asking for the agenda items of the authorization to enter into negotiations to possibly sell or lease the railroad to a private individual or corporation, Torres said that she had never brought about the issue before her board.
She also denied that she had communicated with the board about the possibility of entering into some kind of agreement with Broe or his railroad company OmniTrax.
The Broe Group's involvement in rail began in 1986 when it purchased a portfolio of real estate assets from the bankrupt estate of a large industrial company, including a railroad in Northern Colorado that became Great Western Railway. Many more railroad acquisitions followed, and The Broe Group now owns one of the largest privately held railroad companies in North America, called OmniTRAX.OmniTrax runs the largest privately held short-line railroad system in North America, with 17 rail lines and 2,000 miles of track.
If the BRGR board was to approve some arrangement with the group, it would have to be approve also by the board of the Brownsville Navigation District. The possibility of a deal with Broe would hand over a virtual monopoly of all rail traffic in and out of the port.
And despite Torres' denials, sources close to that board indicate that talks have been ongoing between the port railroad and the Colorado-based group.
If and when the board was to approve he sale or lease of the railroad, Broe's OmniTrax Inc. would take over the BRG's 45 miles throughout the Brownsville Navigation District and 5 miles into the city of Brownsville itself. The railroad was established as a separate entity from the Port of Brownsville in 1984 and claims to provide the port and its customers with affordable, direct access to two Class 1 railroads — Union-Pacific and Burlington Northern — and an intermediate connection via U.P. to Kansas City Southern De Mexico routes across the Rio Grande.
The BRG is a short line railroad, organized for the purpose of providing exclusive common carrier rail transportation to all facilities located within the Brownsville Navigation District of Cameron County, Texas.
The BRG has six yards and more than 1,000 cars on hand. It boasts of being "armed with an array of services to offer shippers anywhere in the United States. Steel, scrap metal, agricultural and food products and other bulk materials have always been major commodities for the BRG, but chemical shipments have skyrocketed in recent years."
An information request to the Port of Brownsville also yielded nothing about the matter, with port spokesperson Debbie Duke saying nothing had ever been placed on the BND agenda regarding the sale or possible lease of the railroad.
The BRG board consists of five trustees who were initially appointed by the commissioners of the BND in 1984. Vacancies on the Board since then have been filled by appointment by the board of trustees of the railroad, in short, a self-appointed board.
The current members are like a list of the usual suspects: Dr. Martin Garcia is the chairman, Grady Deaton is vice-chair, IBC President Fred W. Rusteberg is a trustee, BND commissioner John Reed is a trustee, and building contractor Terry Ray is also a trustee.
5 comments:
That lady has been in denial her entire life/-nothing new.
So all the profits in the past went to who if it was public money. Wasn't a former port director a big train fan? good article Montoyo, keep digging on stuff from the lady in denial
That lady has been in denial her entire career, totally clueless. Self appointed board? Isn't one of them related to one of the big steel loading companies in the port? And the remaining clowns were buddies with a former port director that liked railroads.. Keep digging Montoyo on the lady in "denial". So who benefited from the profits of the train place these last years? Is that why brownsville biggest clowns have been self appointed ?
that lady has been in denial her whole career with the trains if she has those crooked self appointed board members. what has gradyy done that was a benefit for the community? terri rey the developer negotiating with another developer? isn't that j reed guy related to a company that loads metal in the port?
a former port director loved railroads - wonder where all the profits of this booming train place has gone? wasn't that port director in trouble at one time from taking money from a big port contract? and these board member are all pretty well off. good article johnny keep digging on the lady in denial.
If BND is going to start selling off property paid for by taxpayers (in the name of progress) then it is time to end the BND tax. A business should act like a business, not a leach on the public. Campriano uses the taxing power just like his "bud" Julieta Garcia...and if the port can't work in the black, we need to get someone who can. Campriano on TV the other night seems to admire the Wolf Blitzer unshaven look.
folks if the BND ever stopped taxing our citizens it would have to file for bankruptcy. There is no way that BND operates in the black, just plenty of red, all th etime, but the taxpayers are really the ones that keep it in the BLACK. I say sell campariano el marano and out the dorr he went just liek the witch over at utb, adios amigos. goodbye and sayonra into retirement, its been plenty of time sucking that public titty by these 2 characters. CCA
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