EPA raised concerns on border fence, environment
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau, El Paso TimesAUSTIN -- The Environmental Protection Agency had serious concerns about how barrier fencing would affect habitat, animals and communities along the border near El Paso, according to recently released comments the agency prepared earlier this year.
The agency submitted comments in response to environmental assessments the Department of Homeland Security conducted of proposed fencing on the Texas border, including about 56 miles in the El Paso area.
The undated comments, which were obtained and released Wednesday by the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, show that federal environmental officials wanted the Department of Homeland Security to do more research and analysis on effects the border fence might have on wildlife, farming and water quality in the region.
That may be one reason why DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in April signed a waiver that allowed the department to circumvent about 30 laws, including environmental regulations, in order to complete 670 miles of fencing this year, said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club.
"From the EPA's comments, it was clear they weren't going to get any kind of go ahead anytime soon," Reed said.
(Continued here. The letter from the EPA is here.)
Labels: border fence, environment, EPA, immigration
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The politicians who voted for the Secure Fence Act were primarily interested in the symbolism of a wall, not its substance, otherwise they would have checked to see if the original San Diego border wall had worked. In fact, it hadn’t. The Congressional Research Service concluded that the border wall “did not have a discernible impact on the influx of unauthorized aliens coming across the border in San Diego.” Recent Border Patrol statistics bear this conclusion out. Fiscal year 2007 saw a 7% increase in illegal crossings in the San Diego sector. In contrast, during the same year crossings border-wide dropped by 20%. The Del Rio sector, which like the rest of Texas east of El Paso has never had a wall, saw a 46% drop. The unwalled Rio Grande Valley saw a 34% drop, bringing illegal entries in that sector to a 15 year low. Even Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff recognized the border wall’s ineffectiveness, saying, “I think the fence has come to assume a certain kind of symbolic significance which should not obscure the fact that it is a much more complicated problem than putting up a fence which someone can climb over with a ladder or tunnel under with a shovel.”
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