Resolution in Kansas targets NAFTA and "super highway"

Resolution in Kansas targets
NAFTA and "super highway"

TOPEKA | Rep. Judy Morrison of Shawnee wants the Congress to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and oppose a NAFTA “super highway” along I-35.

She is asking the Kansas Legislature to go on record opposing them by passing a resolution she introduced. A hearing on that legislation was held today.

She said powerful financial interests are working to create a new super highway and trade corridor from Mexico to Canada through several states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

During recorded testimony played before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, Oklahoma Sen. Randy Brogdon, a Republican, said the highway and corridor would not be subject to U.S. laws but international law. He said corridor land will be taken through eminent domain.

“The super corridor will cause the largest confiscation of private property ever seen in the United State,” he said.

Brogdon said the highway proposal was part of an international intermodal freight system designed to utilize high-speed rail and trucking to move goods from Mexico and China to the U.S.

Morrison said this highway system would be funded by foreign consortiums and controlled by foreign management, which threatens the sovereignty of the United States.

Owen de Long, a political consultant from Merriam, testified that the proposed BNS&F railroad’s intermodal freight hub in Gardner in southwest Johnson County was a part of that system.

Organizations from Oklahoma and Texas testified in favor of Morrison’s resolution. It also is supported by the Teamsters Union and U.S. Reps. Nancy Boyda of Topeka, a Democrat, and Jerry Moran of Hays, a Republican.

Submitted by Jim Sullinger