Donald Trump Border Wall News: Environmental Regulations Waived for Project
As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) first announced in August, the agency under Donald Trump's administration has posted a Federal Register notice on Tuesday, Sep. 12 explaining how they need to waive a lengthy list of basic environmental protections to expedite building the border wall.
Under DHS acting secretary Elaine Duke, the DHS has published a Notice of Determination in the Federal Register earlier this week. The document, summarized, explains how the agency determined that "it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads in the vicinity of the international land border of the United States near the city of Calexico in the state of California."
This three-mile segment of the wall, which is set to rise near the Calexico West entry point, is part of Donald Trump's plan to build a border wall that will be 30 to 65 feet high and maybe covered in solar panels, as Gizmodo notes.
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Waivers like this Tuesday's notice gets the project past key environmental protection measures, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act, as listed off by Think Progress.
The border wall also gets to disregard legislated wildlife preservation like the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, as Business Insider fears this could lead to bigger problems in Texas.
Cultural heritage is at risk as well, as the project is free to ignore the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and American Indian Religious Freedom Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
Apart from these, they also have the free rein to disregard concerns by neighboring Calexico, with the project's green light to go past the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Solid Waste Disposal Act, and the Noise Control Act.
