Courtney Bourgoin (248) 214-6682 or courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
OAKLAND,CA-- Today, the Sierra Club filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) challenge against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for failing to release information on proposed walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. The challenge seeks to gain information from three long overdue document requests-- including information about the government’s communication with contractors, the administration’s appropriations requests, siting of new border walls in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, construction timelines, and flooding risks created by border walls that have been proposed for the Rio Grande floodplain.
In response, Sierra Club Borderlands Co-chair Scott Nicol released the following statement:
“This failure to release information about plans for the proposed border wall is deeply concerning. The Trump Administration is trying to hide from the public the damage that border walls will inflict upon border communities and the environment.
"Local communities have the right to know where this border wall will go, how much it will cost, and whose input is being considered. We need to know whether impacts on wildlife refuges and the likelihood that border walls in the floodplain will worsen flooding are even being considered. The Trump administration cannot be allowed to move blindly forward with this destructive boondoggle of a wall.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.