Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Yuma/Columbus-- Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced thatin conjunction with its plans to build 80 miles of new and replacement border walls in Arizona and New Mexico, the agency will waive 32 laws to expedite wall construction. These include the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and 29 other federal laws. With these new waivers, the Trump administration has now waived at least 38 laws on 9 different occasions for border wall and barrier construction. See more details on the construction and waivers here.
In response, Dan Millis, Borderlands Program Manager for the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, released the following statement:
"Today, the Trump administration has again shown its disregard for the protection and safety of border communities-- waiving bedrock safeguards to expedite construction on dozens of miles of new border walls in New Mexico and Arizona. Border community residents deserve equal protection under the law, not stripping of their basic clean water, air, and land protections.
“The practice of ignoring laws for political reasons is unjust and dangerous. Today, people along more than 500 miles of the border are living without these bedrock protections. This is unacceptable; the waiver authority in the Real ID Act needs to be repealed immediately."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, 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.