By KRWG News
Santa Teresa – The Union Pacific Railroad plans to invest more than $400 million toward the cost to relocate its hub along the Mexican border from El Paso, Texas, to nearby Santa Teresa, N.M., but the project first needs New Mexico lawmakers to approve a tax exemption.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez held a news conference Friday in Santa Teresa, calling for a locomotive fuel exemption to the gross receipts tax and compensation tax.
The governor's office said in a news release the exemption would level New Mexico's tax rate with Texas. The exemption, if made into law, would allow Union Pacific to break ground on a new rail facility near Santa Teresa.
The project could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Santa Teresa area.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.