BlueBloggin

In the never ending desire for the Bush administration to destroy this country, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, has signed a waiver for the construction of the border fence to continue. The waiver covers California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The problem with this rush to build, is it waives all environmental and land management laws. And, in Texas landowners have been fighting to keep generational land they have owned since the 1700 and 1800 through Texas/Spanish land grants. Not to mention that Homeland Security has yet to solve the problem of Mexico acquiring Texas land and part of the University of Texas via the wall route. However, the environment, land owners, animal and land management are of no interest or value to the Bush administration. After all, this is the administration of slash and burn policies.

Some argue that a boarder fence will stop illegal immigrants from coming here. The truth is the fence slows them down by 4 minutes.

Homeland Security waives laws to finish fence

WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department used its legal authority Tuesday to waive environmental and land management laws, so it can complete 670 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexican border.

The waivers will allow the department to move ahead with miles of pedestrian and vehicle fence construction as well as roads and detection systems.

Homeland Security, under orders from Congress to build the fence, has run into intense opposition along the border from land owners, ranchers and environmentalists. Many didn’t want their land taken or for wildlife and rare species to be disturbed.

The waivers apply to sections of the border in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They allow Homeland Security to skip required studies of how its construction projects would affect areas with fragile environments, protected wildlife or historic value.

• Although Congress gave Homeland Security the authority to waive the laws, some members were furious. “Today’s waiver represents an extreme abuse of authority,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said. “Waiver authority should only be used as a last resort.”

• Environmental groups also expressed alarm. “The DHS decision … will jeopardize the economy, quality of life and beauty of South Texas,” National Audubon Society President John Flicker said.

• It is not the first time Homeland Security has used waivers. In 2005, it waived environmental restrictions to build a section of fence in San Diego. In 2007, it issued two waivers in southern Arizona.

• In a statement, Homeland Security said it “remains deeply committed to environmental responsibility” and will make every effort to “ensure impacts to the environment, wildlife and cultural and historic artifacts are analyzed and minimized.”

I find it insulting and difficult to believe that Homeland Security “remains deeply committed to environmental responsibility.” If that were true Chertoff would not have used waivers to continue this destructive project, instead he would have issues a moratorium instead of a waiver.

I’m sure the truth behind Chertoff’s waivers is the recent revelation of Boeing not being able to complete the virtual fence which Bush stated in May 2006, “the most technologically advanced border security initiative in American history.” However, In late February, federal officials stated; “delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear.”

Yet another failed domestic project and wasted tax dollars.

Investigators for the Government Accountability Office had earlier warned that the effort was beset by both expected and unplanned difficulties. But yesterday, they disclosed new troubles that will require a redesign and said the first phase will not be completed until near the end of the next president’s first term.

• Those problems included Boeing’s use of inappropriate commercial software, designed for use by police dispatchers, to integrate data related to illicit border-crossings. Boeing has already been paid $20.6 million for the pilot project, and in December, the DHS gave the firm another $65 million to replace the software with military-style, battle management software.

• But officials said yesterday that they now expect to complete the first phase of the virtual fence’s deployment — roughly 100 miles near Tucson and Yuma, Ariz., and El Paso, Tex. — by the end of 2011, instead of by the end of 2008. That target falls outside Boeing’s initial contract, which will end in September 2009 but can be extended.

• The virtual fence was to complement a physical fence that the administration now says will include 370 miles of pedestrian fencing and 300 miles of vehicle barriers to be completed by the end of this year. The GAO said this portion of the project may also be delayed and that its total cost cannot be determined. The president’s 2009 budget does not propose funds to add fencing beyond the 700 or so miles meant to be completed this year.

• “The total cost is not yet known,” testified Richard M. Stana, the GAO’s director of homeland security issues, because DHS officials “do not yet know the type of terrain where the fencing is to be constructed, the materials to be used, or the cost to acquire the land.”

By the way, the steel being used for the wall of shame is made in China, I’m sure there’ll be a recall.

As I’ve stated in previous post:

Many Texans, myself included, find the whole idea of the fence a destruction to families, businesses, the environment and our way of life. If the rest of the country who so desperately wants a fence, I suggest that Texas erect the fence on its northern and western border. Then Texas won’t have to suffer the consequences of misguided and uniformed information or the hatred toward our neighbors that the rest of the country has.

How do you put a fence here without destroying Texas? You thought this was a desert we’re talking about. I’m not surprised at your main stream media awareness or lack thereof of our state.

Marina Lake Amistad in Del Rio

Border bridges:Laredo, Texas, on the right, is the nation’s busiest inland port.

Posted by nytexan April 2nd, 2008 | Category: Border Fence, Border Wall, Chertoff, Homeland Security, Mexico, Politics | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL