Why not make the US-Mexico wall an Energy Corridor?

Building an energy corridor along the border would create jobs, bring security, and become one of the biggest modern marvels of this century. Twenty eight prestigious engineers came up with this plan to get the two nations to work together and build a barrage of solar systems, wind turbines, natural gas pipelines, and desalination facilities which would create an industrial park along the border which has never been done before on this scale. These facilities need to be well protected so it would demand strong border security and at the same time would produce cheap electricity and water for mainly agricultural businesses that are attracted to these areas.

Ronald Adrian, Regent’s Professor at Arizona State University and a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering says, “ At first blush the idea seems too big, too aggressive, but consider the Roman aqueducts or the transcontinental railroads — enormous undertakings that gave enormous benefits. The cost of providing basic, essential infrastructure to the border lands is tiny compared to the opportunities it creates,” he says. “I view this project as a means of creating wealth by turning unused land of little value along the border into valuable land that has power, water access and ultimately agriculture, industry, jobs, workers and communities. With only a wall, you still have unused land of little value.”

A lot of people are tired of hearing about how much a wall will cost and about how it will divide us more as neighboring countries but this plan gives us a powerful solution to these concerns. We can work together with Mexico on something that benefits both countries and has a huge upside. We can use our intelligence in creating an amazing solution to this problem instead of just putting a wall up. The times are changing ever faster and we must not settle for average solutions!