The Trump administration is once again bypassing federal environmental laws to speed up work on border barriers and related infrastructure in the Big Bend region of West Texas, this time for a project in and around the region鈥檚 namesake national and state parks.
According to a released Monday, the latest regulatory waiver will apply to more than 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in the region, from near the Closed Canyon trail in Big Bend Ranch State Park through the entirety of Big Bend National Park and into remote parts of southeastern Brewster County.
In the notice, Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin that the administration is bypassing a wide range of laws 鈥渢o ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads鈥� along the southern border.
While U.S. Customs and Border Protection it will not build a 30-foot-tall steel border wall in either the state or national park, the agency鈥檚 call for a mix of vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and patrol road upgrades in the parks as part of a project dubbed 鈥淏ig Bend 4.鈥� A CBP spokesperson confirmed that the latest waiver is intended for that project.
This week鈥檚 waiver comes after six former superintendents of Big Bend National Park urging him to not take such a step.
鈥淭his is devastating news, giving CBP unfettered authority to do anything they want within the national park,鈥� said Bob Krumenaker, the park鈥檚 most recent former superintendent who now chairs the advocacy group
Technically, this latest regulatory waiver isn鈥檛 new: It鈥檚 a revision of a similar one issued in May for a different stretch of the border.
In , Mullin wrote that last month鈥檚 filing 鈥� which to part of the Rio Grande east of Big Bend National Park 鈥� contained an 鈥渋ncorrect鈥� description of the area covered by the waiver. The new filing contains updated GPS coordinates, changing the area of the border where federal laws will be bypassed.
The stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border covered by the Trump administration鈥檚 latest regulatory waiver for border security infrastructure is located between these two points on the map, according to GPS coordinates in a preliminary federal notice released Monday.
Park supporters have been particularly concerned about the potential for new road building along the Rio Grande, which Krumenaker said in a statement advocates will 鈥渃ontinue to do everything possible to deter.鈥�
鈥淭heir utter disregard for the will of the people, the taxpayers鈥� money, the actual data showing minimal numbers of border crossings inside the park, and the values that Texans and all Americans hold dear as represented by the National Parks leave us without sufficient words to express,鈥� he said.
In a statement, a CBP spokesperson said the agency is coordinating with the National Park Service, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and other agencies.
鈥淲hile there are priorities for new border wall and detection technology in (the Border Patrol鈥檚) Big Bend Sector, the combination of barriers, roads, and technology (cameras, infrared illuminators, and other detection technology) in the areas adjacent to the Big Bend National Park and State Park are still in the planning stages, while CBP focuses on other higher priority locations,鈥� the agency said.
The latest waiver will allow CBP to ignore a wide range of federal laws as it moves to install or upgrade a mix of surveillance technology, vehicle barriers and patrol roads in the parks, as of the Big Bend 4 project calls for.
鈥淭hese horrific plans are an affront to the millions of Americans who treasure Big Bend,鈥� Laiken Jordahl, an advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. 鈥淧oliticians who鈥檝e never set foot here are signing a death warrant for this wild and beautiful place.鈥�
The Center noted that the latest waiver notice, as written, allows for the installation of new border fencing, barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors.
The latest development comes as Customs and Border Protection is on an actual 30-foot steel border wall through other parts of the Big Bend region outside the parks within weeks.
Amid months of shifting plans and public confusion about what exactly the administration is seeking to build in the region, anti-wall advocates have continued to about the physical wall plan, saying the approximately 175-mile border wall through Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties is still a threat.
Jordahl鈥檚 group, along with West Texas residents, has already over an earlier federal regulatory waiver intended to speed up the steel border wall. He said the Center for Biological Diversity will fight the new waiver 鈥渨ith everything we鈥檝e got.鈥�
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