5 days ago
DHS waives environmental laws to start Arizona border wall construction
The Brief
DHS says it waived environmental laws to get started on filling in border wall gaps in Arizona and New Mexico.
The Center for Biological Diversity is firing back, calling it a "disastrous project."
PHOENIX - The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) is issuing three new waivers to expedite 36 miles of new border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico.
What we know
This waives environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, so construction can move forward faster.
The Arizona projects include closing seven gaps between 40 and 240 feet in Yuma, and about 27 miles in the Tucson sector.
DHS says closing these gaps will enhance border security operations.
The other side
The Center for Biological Diversity is responding to the decision.
"Trump is recklessly casting aside the foundational laws that protect endangered species and clean air and water to build a wildlife-killing wall through pristine wilderness," said Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Throwing taxpayer money away to wall off the Santa Cruz River and San Rafael Valley would be a death sentence for jaguars, ocelots and other wildlife in the Arizona-Sonora borderlands. This is happening while border crossings are at the lowest level in decades. We'll fight this disastrous project with everything we've got."
