TexAmericas Center anticipates growth amid approval of bill

Scott Norton, executive director and CEO of TexAmericas Center, gave an overview of the redevelopment authority’s functions and goals for regional growth during the Red River Valley Association conference last week.

Norton outlined House Bill 967, which has passed both the House and Senate during the 85th session of the Texas Legislature, and now awaits signature by Gov. Greg Abbott. Introduced by Texas State Rep. Gary VanDeaver R-New Boston, it allows TexAmericas to create a nonprofit corporation.

The bill also allows TexAmericas to promote regional economic development and job creation inside and outside its boundaries in Bowie County and adjacent counties.

“The changes this year are two-fold,” Norton said. “One is to allow us to do regional economic activity. The way our legislation is stated right now, we can only work on economic development activities on our footprint, Yes, we have 12,000 acres. Yes, we have a lot of property to work with. Yes, we have a lot of environmental concerns to work with. However, if we want to grow, the region’s going to have to grow with us. We want to encourage the region to grow.”

TexAmericas was created in 1998 by legislative charter to accept and redevelop surplus military property. Its footprint includes 12,000 acres on three parcels of land, much of which was the site of the now-closed Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant.

Norton said there are contaminated sites on the property that are still owned by the U.S. government. The Army is responsible for all the environmental remediation costs, which are estimated to range from $100 million to $250 million to clean up all the sites. In 2008, TexAmericas completed a $2.6 million Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement with the Army for an early transfer of the properties, which Norton said allows the property to change hands before the cleanup is done. While it expedites economic recovery, the property still has sites that cannot be used until they are cleaned up.

Norton said one of the goals of TexAmericas is to use a landfill on the property to dispose of materials from the 700 structures needing to be torn down, which include asbestos and lead-based paint. Norton said they have also found hazardous waste on the property that was not supposed to be there.

The ability to create a nonprofit corporation will help them complete the efforts, Norton said, as it removes TexAmericas Center from liability with the cleanup or with other businesses which choose to operate on the footprint.

“As an organization, we are a state agency created by the state of Texas, a special purpose district, so any changes to what we do, we have to get permission from the Texas Legislature to do that. We have gone several times in the past as our organization has evolved, we have requested changes,” he said. “Two years ago, we were in the middle of recruiting ExPal USA on our footprint. That process took about two years. To do that, we had to protect the assets of TexAmericas Center in bringing in a munitions company on the footprint. So what we did two years ago was ask the state legislature to allow us to set up nonprofits. That places TexAmericas Center out of the chain of ownership for that property.”

HB 967 gives TexAmericas the power to create and operate additional nonprofits on and off their footprint, in Bowie County and adjacent counties.

The bill can be viewed at capitol.state.tx.us.