W

ondering whether NAFTA is helping or hurting the United States? Try examining the Colorado crossroads of the NAFTA corridor.
   Among the early results of the 2005 Colorado-Alberta Energy Partnering Mission was the November 2005 announcement by Calgary-based Enerplus to open its U.S. headquarters in Denver, joining fellow Calgary companies PetroCanada, EnCana and Suncor as Alberta companies with a Denver headquarters presence. Canadian companies had invested an estimate US$3 billion in Colorado in the two years leading up to the announcement.
   "If we want to meet our increasing energy demands, we need to form partnerships that will help us secure North America's energy future by effectively developing the resources right in our own backyard," said Canadian Consul General Michael Fine from the year-old Consulate General of Canada in Denver. "Enerplus' decision to come to Denver demonstrates the synergy between the two front-range cities of Denver and Calgary and the possible partnerships that can result from building on this important relationship."
   From the other direction, a Mexican company, Grupo Cementos Chihuahua (GCC) is investing $220 in a new cement plant in Pueblo that had been on the table since 1998. GCC spokesman Luis Arias said in early April that infrastructure installation was largely complete and caisson construction was under way, with a projected start-up date during the second half of 2007.
   At 1 million annual tons, the GCC plant will be the state's second-largest cement plant, after Holcim's operation in Florence. Even before the final hurdles had been overcome on the project, GCC had invested approximately $22 million in site prep work.
   GCC operates other plants in its home state of Chihuahua, as well as in New Mexico and South Dakota, totaling 3.3 million annual tons. In January 2006 it acquired the assets of four ready-mix concrete companies in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. Like Mexican company Cemex, it is benefiting from the January resolution of the U.S.-Mexico trade dispute over cement imported into the U.S., and will see a combined $70 million from reimbursements for anti-dumping deposits and liability elimination.
   Pueblo is pursuing other economic development strategies too. A proposed half-cent economic development tax, to be placed on the November 2006 ballot, may help it compensate for lower property taxes and keep general infrastructure up to par. On that same ballot will be a measure to allow Pueblo County to exempt itself from certain of the state's Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) restrictions for a period of up to five years. That would follow in the successful footsteps of Colorado's Referendum C, passed by Colorado voters in November 2005. Referendum C allows the state latitude to invest revenue in infrastructure by freeing it from a "ratcheting" provision of its formula for calculating the tax base. However, it does nothing for counties that still face state mandates.
   Colorado Gov. Bill Owens mentioned that measure's important and controversial passage in his State of the State address in early 2006:
   "Without Referendum C, I would have been outlining proposals today for more than $500 million in cuts next year," he said. "Fortunately for the citizens of Colorado, that's not the case. Now our duty is to use the funds wisely."