STB Issues Draft of Environmental Impact Statement for Green Eagle Railroad in Eagle Pass, Texas; Public Meetings Scheduled April 29 & May 1
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2025
The United States Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) issued on Friday, March 14, 2025 a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Green Eagle Railroad, LLC’s proposed construction and operation of a 1.3 mile rail line in Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Texas.
The proposed Green Eagle Railroad line is part of the larger Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project that includes a new commercial motor vehicle (CMV) international crossing between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico and Eagle Pass, Texas. The Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project is privately-owned by Puerto Verde Holdings, LLC, but the Presidential Permit for both the Green Eagle Railroad and Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project were solicited by and granted to Maverick County, Texas under County Judge Ramsey English Cantu tenure.
After submitting its petition for a Presidential Permit for both railroad and commercial motor vehicle international bridges in October 2023 to the United States Department of State, President Joe Biden granted Maverick County, Texas the Presidential Permit to construct and operate the Green Eagle Railroad International Bridge and the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge in May 2024. Although the Presidential Permit to construct and operate both international bridges are under Maverick County’s name, Maverick County does not own neither of the two bridges.
The Green Eagle Railroad International Bridge and Rail Line will be built just north of the city limits of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas in the densely populated and environmentally sensitive area of Seco Mines. Similarly, the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge will be built just north of the proposed Green Eagle Railroad Bridge and Rail Line in Seco Mines and Hopedale areas between the FEMA flood zones of both Elm Creek and Seco Creek. The City of Eagle Pass Water Works System potable water plant is less than a mile downstream from both bridges, which provides potable water to 95 percent of the 60,000 residents of Eagle Pass and Maverick County.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement analyzes the potential environmental impacts of both of the proposed rail line, which requires licensing authority from the STB, and the commercial motor vehicle crossings because they would be built as a single port of entry for freight rail and CMV traffic between Mexico and the United States.
The public, including Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and surrounding area, are cordially invited to submit comments on all aspects of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement until the close of the comment period on May 5, 2025. The STB Office of Environmental Analysis will hold three public meetings, two in-person and one virtual, during the comment period to hear oral comments.
The two in-person public meetings for comments in Eagle Pass, Texas are going to be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 at the City of Eagle Pass International Center for Trade, 295 Bob Rogers Drive, Eagle Pass, Texas. The first in-person public meeting for comments on April 29th is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the second in-person public meeting for comments is at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Eagle Pass International Center for Trade. A third public meeting will be held online (virtual) on Thursday, May 1, 2025 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (CDT). To learn how to join the online public meeting for comments on May 1st, please go the the project website at: www.greeneaglerreis.com.
The public may also submit comments electronically and through mail. For electronic comments, submit your comments on the website: www.stb.gov, click on “File an Environmental Comment” in the lower right corner of the home page, and please refer to Docket No. FD 36652. To submit public comments by mail, please send them to: Andrea Poole, Surface Transportation Board, c/o VHB, Attention: Docket No. FD 36652, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 1125, Washington, DC 20001.
To read or view the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, please go to the website: www.greeneaglerreis.com and download the Draft EIS document.
All public comments regarding the Draft EIS must be submitted on or before May 5, 2025. Please refer to Docket No. FD 36652 when submitting your public comments on the Draft EIS.
Last year on April 16, 2024, the STB held two in-person public meetings for comments in Eagle Pass, Texas, over 95 percent of the citizens and/or organizations making public comment opposed the construction and operation of the two Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project international bridges for a myriad of valid and legitimate public safety, national security, flooding, hazardous materials, environmental, historic antiquities preservation, water contamination, pollution, noise, lack of infrastructure, dense population, potential for mass catastrophic accidents, air pollution, Native American artifacts, proximity of public schools, exorbitant appraised values of adjacent properties, and many more reasons.
Eagle Pass and Maverick County residents, including United States and Mexico, only have this public comment period until May 5, 2025 to raise and make their comments on the Draft EIS of the Green Eagle Railroad and Rail Line as well as the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge.
