WASHINGTON — In an aggressive move to finish 670 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border by the end of the year, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced plans to waive federal and state environmental laws.
The two waivers, which were approved by Congress, will allow Homeland Security to slash through a thicket of more than 30 environmental and cultural laws to speed construction.
Environmentalists and local officials have strenuously opposed some of the planned infrastructure projects, saying they will damage the land and disrupt wildlife.
But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that the department was committed to minimizing the impact on the environment. The draft environmental assessments, he said, show the projects will have only "insignificant impacts on the environment and cultural resources."
"DHS is neither compromising its commitment to responsible environmental stewardship nor its commitment to solicit and respond to the needs of state, local and tribal governments," Chertoff said in a prepared statement.
Critics, however, said the waivers were intended to sidestep growing and unexpectedly fierce opposition -- especially in Arizona and in Texas, where concerns have been raised about endangered species and fragile ecosystems along the Rio Grande.
"The Bush administration's latest waiver of environmental and other federal laws threatens the livelihoods and ecology of the entire U.S.-Mexico border region," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. "Secretary Chertoff chose to bypass stakeholders and push through this unpopular project on April Fool's Day. We don't think the destruction of the borderlands region is a laughing matter."
Environmentalists' concerns are that a fence could, among other things, disrupt the migration corridors of butterflies and two endangered species of wildcats: the ocelot, which resembles a miniature leopard, and the jaguarundi, an otter-faced relative of the puma.
In California, invoking the waivers clears the way for 4.5 miles of fencing and 6 miles of roads on Otay Mountain, east of San Diego, a plan that has not met with significant organized opposition.
Homeland Security's push to build more fencing came after Congress failed to overhaul immigration laws amid an acrimonious national debate over illegal border crossings. In 2006, conservatives in Congress championed the Secure Fence Act despite the reluctance of President Bush, who has insisted that a comprehensive approach is needed to deal with illegal immigration. Congress subsequently gave Chertoff the power to waive federal law to hasten construction.
