Rio Grande: border, bridge, blight

On our attempts to concretize, that is.

The Dept of Homeland Security has approved an override of, among other
things, the applicable federal environmental laws to allow quicker
construction of a border fence through El Paso. El Paso and UT-El
Paso are concerned because the fence is planned to go right through a
city park containing wetlands that are just being restored.

Since cross-border migration has been happening for more than a few
years longer than the current Brown Menace scare, I don't really see
how building a fence more quickly solves the problem of people on both
sides of the river being culturally connected.

It's hard for me to get past my malice toward the Bush administration,
but when I do I still see a government response, of obstacles to
humans and disregard for nature, that will be overcome in ways we
can't foresee.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_8906405

"
AUSTIN -- The manager of El Paso's largest city park is concerned that
federal plans for a border fence will undo years of work to restore
natural wetlands on the Rio Grande.

And U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's decision last
week to circumvent environmental protection laws that could hold up
progress on the barrier have John Sproul, manager of Rio Bosque
Wetlands Park, wondering whether sensitive wildlife and habitat will
even be considered before construction begins.

"It's a landscape you just don't see in our river valley today,"
Sproul said.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to build about 57 miles of
fence on the border starting at Socorro and continuing east of the
Fabens port of entry.

The fence will be 15 to 18 feet high, though its final positioning and
design have not been decided.

About a mile of that fencing would abut the 372-acre city park, which
is managed by the University of Texas at El Paso Center for
Environmental Resource Management.

Sproul said staff and volunteers at the park have been working for 10
years to restore the wetlands, the only one of its kind in the El Paso region,
to its original condition.

Recently, he said, coyotes and beavers have returned to the area. And
UTEP is planning an exhibit to celebrate progress to restore native
plants and animals in the park.

"The opportunity for the full range of plants and animals found
historically in the river valley to eventually get established at the
park would be compromised" by the fence, Sproul said.

...

The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club echoed those concerns in
comments it sent last month to the Department of Homeland Security.
The department relied on brief visits to the area to conduct its
environmental analysis, wrote Cyrus Reed, the chapter's conservation
director.

"A much more robust survey should be taken to assess the types of
species present in the construction area," Reed wrote.

...

The group, which includes U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, argues
that the waivers violate the constitutional separation of powers
between Congress and the executive branch.

...

Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@...; 512-479-6606.
"