SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE: With construction of what President Trump calls the first 40 miles of new border wall already underway across the nation’s southern boundary, federal officials have announced this week they’re waiving nearly 30 environmental laws in Texas to expedite additional building in the interest of homeland security.
Opponents called the waivers “catastrophic.”
“Waiving laws meant to protect border residents and ecosystems shows the Trump administration’s contempt for the rule of law,” said Scott Nicol, co-chairman of the Sierra Club’s Borderlands Team.
Environmental groups anticipated the waivers, and are expected to sue to block them in federal court as they have before – so far, unsuccessfully — citing irreparable damage to local wildlife refuges, home to hundreds of migrating birds and butterflies, and several endangered species.
Click here to read the full story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, authored by Molly Hennessy-Fisk.
