Courtney Bourgoin, courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Tucson, AZ-- Late yesterday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a proposal for 63 miles of new wall in Arizona-- bollard walls that would cut through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the San Pedro River, the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, and other public lands. The Department of Homeland Security’s power to waive bedrock environmental, cultural, and community public health safeguards means that wall construction through these ecologically-significant landscapes and waterways can happen without regard for the rule of law.
In response, Dan Millis of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program released the following statement:
“The communities, landscapes and waterways of the borderlands region drive local recreation economies, sustain natural systems, and support millions of people in the Southwest and beyond. There is overwhelming proof that border walls do not protect these resources - they only do them harm.
“Destroying land and constructing more walls through these delicate landscapes and waters will further harm endangered species like the Sonoran pronghorn and Mexican gray wolf, at a time when the world faces mass extinctions. Building blockages through wildlife corridors means the jaguar could again disappear from the United States.
“Places like Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the San Pedro River-- where thousands of tourists visit annually-- would be decimated by enormous eyesores. Walls don’t solve problems. They cause flooding and sabotage wildlife protection efforts. We cannot allow Trump’s xenophobic, backward agenda to go any farther. The damage will be irreversible.”
Background:
58 of the 63 miles proposed are new wall: Existing 4 to 5 foot vehicle barriers, structures similar to a highway guardrail that allow most natural flows of wildlife and water, would be replaced with 18 to 30 foot steel bollard walls, blocking heavy water flows and all terrestrial wildlife species wider than 5 or 6 inches. More here.
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.