DHS Fills in Canyon to Build Border Wall

DHS is letting nothing stand in its way in throwing up as much of the border wall as possible before the new administration takes over.  Even if it means wholesale environmental destruction.  The LA Times has a story from San Diego:

Smuggler's Gulch lived up to its infamous name.

For a century, the narrow canyon leading into California from Mexico provided cover for cattle thieves and opium dealers, bandits and booze runners. More recently, it has hidden thousands of illegal immigrants on their journey north, sealing its place in border lore.

Now, it's a fading memory.

The canyon has been all but wiped off the landscape, its steep walls carved into gentle slopes, its depths filled with 35,000 truckloads of dirt as the federal government nears completion of an extensive border reinforcement project at the southwesternmost point of the United States.

In 2005, the Bush administration waived state and federal environmental laws to overcome stiff opposition to the massive earth-moving effort, which entails cutting the tops off nearby hills and pushing about 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt into the gulch and neighboring Goat Canyon.

Environmentalists and conservation groups fear that the project, scheduled to be completed in May, will harm the Tijuana River estuary, threaten endangered species and destroy culturally sensitive Native American sites. With construction well underway, it's clear that few of the 500 miles of new border fencing projects are transforming the environment as radically as the three miles from the Smuggler's Gulch area to the coast.

. . .

But the Department of Homeland Security in 2005 waived all environment laws, the first time it had done so since Congress granted it the authority. Border Patrol officials argued that thousands of people every year still tried crossing through that stretch of the border, and that the rugged terrain prevented agents from accessing the area.

. . .

Environmental groups monitoring the construction say the recent floods in the Tijuana River Valley suggest that sediment from erosion is already filling the estuary. They plan to seek federal and state money to fix the problem.

"We've lost sensitive habitat, and the estuary is now threatened," said Jim Peugh, conservation chairman of the San Diego Audubon Society. "I'm really disappointed that our system wasn't allowed to work the way it has historically and is required to by law."

The damage isn't limited to California.  The grassroots group No Border Wall reports that similar damage to the environment will result/has resulted from construction of the wall across its length.

The group's mission statement represents a concise refutation of the border wall.

NO BORDER WALL is a grassroots coalition of groups and individuals united in our belief that a border wall will not stop illegal immigration or smuggling and will not make the United States any safer. A border wall tells the world that we are a fearful nation, not a strong and confident nation, and that we are unable to address difficult issues in an intelligent and meaningful way. It will do irreparable harm to our borderlands and our country as a whole. Many of us live on the border, and we know what will be lost if a wall tears through our communities, farms, and natural areas. We urge our elected representatives to reject the border wall and repeal the Secure Fence Act and the Real ID Act.

It's a shame so many Democratic politicians, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, felt compelled to vote for this legislative disaster.

Via Dan Kowalski.

[Image: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times]