The Trump administration is once again bypassing federal environmental laws to speed up work on border barriers and related infrastructure in the Big Bend region of West Texas, this time for a project in and around the region’s namesake national and state parks.
Project Details
According to a preliminary federal notice released Monday, the latest regulatory waiver will apply to more than 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in the region, from near the Closed Canyon trail in Big Bend Ranch State Park through the entirety of Big Bend National Park and into remote parts of southeastern Brewster County.
In the notice, Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin wrote that the administration is bypassing a wide range of laws ‘to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads’ along the southern border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection continues to insist it will not build a 30-foot-tall steel border wall in either the state or national park, but the agency’s current plans call for a mix of vehicle barriers, surveillance technology, and patrol road upgrades in the parks as part of a project dubbed ‘Big Bend 4’.
Local Concerns
Park supporters have been particularly concerned about the potential for new road building along the Rio Grande, which could harm the environment and disrupt the natural beauty of the area.
‘This is devastating news, giving CBP unfettered authority to do anything they want within the national park,’ said Bob Krumenaker, the park’s most recent former superintendent who now chairs the Keep Big Bend Wild advocacy group.
The Center for Biological Diversity has also spoken out against the project, with advocate Laiken Jordahl saying, ‘These horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend.’ The group has already sued the Trump administration over an earlier federal regulatory waiver intended to speed up the steel border wall.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
