Posted on 07/21/2008 7:21:56 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
BROWNSVILLE — The border barrier that soon will be built in the Rio Grande Valley hardly fits the Berlin Wall image conjured by its opponents.
Rather, it’s a patchwork of permeable structures riddled with apertures for animals and people, with lots of gates and lots of keys.
The Homeland Security Department’s Environmental Stewardship Plan for the Valley shows the agency has settled on locations for 21segments totaling about 70 miles, scattered from Brownsville to Roma.
Seven segments will be 18-foot-tall cuts into existing river levees, reinforced with concrete. Three segments will be movable in case of hurricane-induced flooding.
And one segment will be without a foundation, or “floating,” in an area where archeological concerns, politics and an ongoing lawsuit make its final location iffy.
Many segments will have wildlife openings, 438in all, and an undisclosed number of controlled access gates for property owners, farmers, land managers, water and irrigation personnel, emergency services and even recreationists.
Much of the fence will be see-through and water permeable, with nary an inch of barbed wire.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman Barry Morrissey said the plan shows Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff— despite waiving away 37environmental and other laws — followed through on his promise to take environmental and local concerns seriously while meeting a congressional mandate for 370 miles of fencing by the end of 2008.
“The secretary made it very clear that (the waivers) by no means removed our obligation to proceed with the project in an environmentally responsible manner,” Morrissey said. “I personally believe that given the circumstances we are in, we are being very responsible stewards of the environment.”
He said fence opponents waving signs and sporting bumper stickers against the “border wall” aren’t being accurate about what’s planned.
The document details such things as when the last jaguarundi sighting in the area was confirmed (2004), how many acres of potential jaguarundi and ocelot habitat will be lost (150), and where floodlights might interfere with star-gazing.
Foes of the fence aren’t impressed.
Scott Nicolof the group No Border Wall said it was far less informative than the preliminary Environmental Impact Statement released in November or the final statement that would have been required had Chertoff not signed legal waivers getting around it.
“Chertoff waived that, so they invented the Environmental Stewardship Plan. They can put anything they want in there,” Nicol said. “It really seems like instead of coming out with a coherent plan to begin with, they’re just lurching from one thing to another.”
He wondered how the Border Patrol would move segments being erected under Roma’s scenic bluff. And how wildlife would get through the segments of concrete levee.
The document confirms some fears.
The easternmost section of the fence will cut off the Audubon Society’s Sabal Palm Sanctuary, a 527-acregrove of restored Rio Grande habitat, the last remaining bit of what the river looked like when Spanish explorers first dubbed it El Rio de las Palmas. Audubon folks have said they expect the sanctuary to close.
The riverbend peninsula of Los Ebanos, with its famous rope-drawn ferry to Mexico, may be most affected, with fencing surrounding the community to the south and east and visual impacts described as “long-term, major and adverse.”
Mark Alvarez, captain of the family-operated ferry, said the fence issue was “touchy” but people seemed to accept that it was coming. He said the quaint crossings to Mexico would continue.
“We’re still going to have the port of entry,” he said.
The Texas Border Coalition, a group of cities and other entities that has been fighting the fence, called it a “$50 billion waste.”
“The fence planned by (homeland security) is absurd,” Coalition chairman Chad Foster, the mayor of Eagle Pass, said in a statement. “It is inhumane to people and wildlife. And in deadly winds, driving rain and alongside a rising river, it will have to be moved.”
The movable portions — being designed for about 14 milesin Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos — have yet to be approved by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees enforcement of a Rio Grande management treaty with Mexico.
Under a 1970 treaty, nothing can be constructed that could impede water flow, so the IBWC has ruled out anything permanent and said the fence must be moved back several miles in advance of a hurricane.
Morrissey said that could be done, and within the 72 hours he said IBWC required.
CBP still is considering different technologies to make those segments non-permanent, he said, comparing the options to the way mobile homes can be moved by being jacked up and placed on a trailer.
“It’s moveable, it is not portable. Which means it is moveable, but with effort,” he said.
The talks with IBWC continue amid news reports that a fence segment in Arizona caused storm waters to pool on the Mexican side, presumably because of caught trash and debris. Morrissey said CBP was reviewing that.
The University of Texas at Brownsville still is fighting in court to keep the fence from cutting across a part of its campus that holds the ruins of a U.S. Army fort that participated in the opening battles of the Mexican-American War in 1848, so that part of the fence will float on above-ground pilings pending the outcome of the case, he said.
As for gate access, Morrissey said CBP was holding internal meetings on how it would work as late as Friday.
The proposed openings, ranging from farm gates large enough to accommodate heavy field equipment to smaller ones for fire trucks or other vehicles, could be initially “locked open” with Border Patrol agents standing guard until it’s decided who gets keys, he said. , adding, “Let’s face it. The whole purpose of the fence is security.”
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who authored the original Secure Fence Act calling for a double-layered fence, said through a spokesman that homeland security “has demonstrated that it’s doing its best to address these concerns as it proceeds with the current construction plan.”
The Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports a crackdown on unauthorized immigration, said there was concern about the extra time taken to handle Texas fence problems and the failure to keep the fence double-layered.
“It’s OK to accommodate environmental concerns, but at some point, there’s a point where these delay tactics are actually having the opposite effect,” spokesman Bob Dane said.
Unauthorized immigrants kill wildlife, use springs as bathtubs and leave behind thousands of tons of trash, he said, and smuggling vehicles were plowing over vegetation and archeological sites.
Still, Dane said, the group applauded the overall progress.
“The fence is a tangible statement. It is a visible, tangible, physical symbol that America recognizes its sovereignty. It’s not the end-all and the be-all, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
half a$$ is better than no a$$ at all!
Dear Israel
Our DHS people have a problem understanding what kind of wall the American people want. We would like to retain you for your expertise and efficiency in building the kind of wall for us that you so wisely built for yourself.
Your Friends
Regular Americans.
Well now. Why don’t we bring in a big chunk of swiss cheese and save ourselves some money.
Hey EPA, I like cheese, do you like cheese?
ping
I’m beginning to side with the naysayers - why bother? Swiss cheese will never be the same as cheddar.
” ‘Border wall’ to have lots of doors and even windows...”
Can it have little holes so we can poke the people on the other side with sticks?
A compound encloses. It’s meant more to contain. A wall on the other hand keeps out. This wall would be a prominent feature for sure but it would only strongly effect the area along a long but narrow strip. Who know what kind of problems we face in the future with the hoards and governments to the south. Drill here drill now and build the wall, I say.
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