30 Environmental Waivers sought for border wall
SANTA TERESA (New Mexico)—
The Trump administration is asking for a waiver of about 30 environmental and other laws to build a barrier along a stretch of border near the bustling Santa Teresa (N.M.) port of entry (a variety of laws that involve water, public land and wildlife).
The Department of Homeland security wants a “bollard wall” to replace vehicle barriers along about a 20-mile stretch of border just west of the Santa Teresa crossing,
according to a notice published on Monday in the Federal Register, the government’s “daily journal” of proposed and final rules, public notices and presidential actions.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in the notice that the new wall is needed in “an area of high illegal entry” in Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector which includes all of New Mexico.
“To begin to meet the need for enhanced border infrastructure in the El Paso Sector, DHS will take immediate action to replace existing vehicle barrier with bollard wall,” said Nielsen.
“The Trump administration is stopping at nothing to ram through this destructive border wall,” said Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a news release from the organization.
“Trump’s divisive border wall is a humanitarian and environmental disaster, and it won’t do anything to stop illegal drug or human smuggling,” Segee said.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release ...
“the Department remains committed to environmental stewardship with respect to these projects.”
A hearing on the case is scheduled February 9 in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
To read the whole article, go to:
https://www.abqjournal.com/1122826/feds-move-ahead-to-replace-us-border-barriers-in-new-mexico.html
“bollard wall”
