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North Las Vegas firm bids to build border wall

Posted at 9:36 PM, Apr 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-08 03:02:13-04

Candidate Donald Trump promised to build a wall along the Mexican border. President Trump insists he’ll get it done. 

Thomas Gleason says he is just the man to build it.

“I want to be one of them,” says Gleason, who heads up Gleason Partners, a construction materials and supply company based in North Las Vegas. “If I don’t do it, who’s gonna do it?”

The U.S. border with Mexico runs about 2,000 miles long. The controversial wall would cost up to an estimated $15 billion.

During the campaign Trump declared he’d make our neighbors to the south cover the cost. The president now says American taxpayers would foot the bill, at least at first.

Gleason says if his company and his joint venture partner, J. Ranck, build the wall it won’t matter who shells out the money.

“It’s gonna pay for itself,” Gleason says. The $15 billion question is how?

“The wall is made of the solar panels,” Gleason says.

That’s right, a wall of solar panels that could be used to generate energy to power American cities -- energy Gleason says could be sold to Mexico. When asked if he thinks it can be done, Gleason responded “yes.”

Gleason has already submitted a proposal to customs and border protection. He estimates his solar panel wall would cost up to $7 million per mile, which if you multiply that by 2,000 miles brings the cost to about $14 billion.

Gleason’s proposal would cost less because he only wants to build portions of the wall.