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Email Alert #27
September 12, 2002
Triple Border Fence
HELP NEEDED TO PREVENT ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE FROM TRIPLE BORDER FENCE
On July 25, 2002 Rep. Duncan Hunter added a rider to the Homeland Security bill (H.R. 5005) that would make construction of the new "triple" border fence between San Diego and Mexico a priority of the new Homeland Security department. The Sierra Club and other activists believe that construction of this fence as proposed will cause incredible damage to sensitive habitat and also destroy important archeological and cultural sites. Inclusion of Hunter's rider in the Homeland Security Bill could allow the project to proceed without these concerns being addressed.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TO GET THIS RIDER REMOVED!!!
Congress has returned from recess and they need to be reminded of the damage this fence will cause to the border region. Because there are two versions of the Homeland Security Act, the bill will go to a conference committee in the U.S. Senate where we will have a chance to get this rider removed.
Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Joe Lieberman are being targeted to get section 416 removed from the Homeland Security Act (H.R. 5005). WE DO NOT WANT THIS SECTION IN THE FINAL HOMELAND SECURITY ACT. The triple fence should not be a priority for the new Homeland Security Department. It is not a Homeland Security Issue.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Please call or send letters as soon as possible:
Senator Joe Lieberman, Governmental Affairs Committee
United States Senate
706 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4041
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(619) 231-9712
Also call Senator Boxer, Congresswoman Davis, and Congressman Filner, who are against the project as it is currently proposed. Thank them for their support and ask them to do more to stop the project.
Senator Barbara Boxer
(619) 239-3884
Rep. Susan Davis
(619) 291-1430
Rep. Bob Filner
(619) 422-5963
TALKING POINTS:
1. This amendment would reinforce the ability of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to have this project exempted from existing environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.
2. Portions of the triple fence will be located in the area designated as a Core Biological Resource Area for the Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP). Much of the land that would be needed for the triple fence was bought with public funds for conservation. Allowing this project to continue would greatly impact what the public has gained from the MSCP and the expenditure of public funds.
3. In 1996 when the project was originally voted for it was intended to help with drugs and migration. If it is now part of Homeland Security the project will take on an entirely different perspective. There are far more meaningful and cost effective methods that would provide a more secure border without the damaging environmental and political consequences of a triple border fence such as proposed in Senator Feinstein's Homeland Security Initiatives.
WHAT WILL BE LOST:
1. The functionality of the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve is threatened by this project. Massive cut and fill activities would send sediment into the estuary drastically altering its ecosystem.
2. There are several sites of archeological importance in the footprint of this project. Some of the sites are 7,000 years old and offer unique windows to the past. Because of development in Mexico right up to the fence, we know that archaeological sites along the border have been lost on the Mexican side. Therefore, preservation of sites on the US side is crucial.
3. The proposed triple fence will destroy the symbolic significance of Border Field State Park. Currently people can converse across the border at this park. After this fence is built the Border Monument will be inaccessible to visitors.
4. Sensitive habitat areas along with the endangered plant and animal species living there.
DETAILS ON THE AMENDMENT
AMENDMENT TO H.R. 5005, AS REPORTED OFFERED BY MR. HUNTER OF CALIFORNIA
At the end of chapter 1 of subtitle B of title IV, add the following:
SEC. 416. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING CONSTRUCTION OF FENCING NEAR SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. It is the sense of the Congress that completing the 14-mile border fence project required to be carried out under section 102(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) should be a priority for the Secretary.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The section of the border to which this amendment refers currently has an improvised single fence with a few breaks in it. If this section of fence is completed in the manner that the INS has proposed, under the proposed rider "Section 416. Sense of Congress Regarding Construction of Fencing Near San Diego, California" there will be irreversible damage done to ecological, archeological and cultural resources.
Currently the INS has made plans to expand this single fence to three parallel fences with roadways between them. The proposed project requires large amounts of cut and fill work in canyon areas where the soils are highly subject to erosion. The mesas, the steep natural banks, and the canyons provide habitat to many endangered plant and animal species. There are many archeological sites, some over 6,000 years old, in the project area. The project also bisects a bi-national "Friendship Park," where citizens from the U.S. and Mexico are able to talk through the fence. In many cases these resources are one-of-a-kind and would be lost forever if this project is allowed to continue unchanged.
Since 1998 government agencies, from the local to federal level, and citizen groups have been meeting with the INS to help them construct a project that would avoid these negative consequences. All of the groups involved with this process saw the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) as an indication that the INS was only participating in these meeting as a technicality. The INS appears to have no intention to change the border fence project to avoid the most critical and precious resources. These groups and agencies provided several comment letters to the DEIS, going into detail on the reports insufficiencies. The DEIS is insufficient in the alternatives explored, the survey work done, and the explanation of mitigation for the project.
It would be a great mistake to include the San Diego Border Fence as a priority of the new Department of Homeland Security with waivers to existing federal laws. To go forward with the project as it is currently proposed would not only destroy precious, one-of-a-kind resources, it would also waste the conservation and preservation efforts made by many government employees and concerned citizens. In addition this project would divert funds and attention away from other areas that are a much greater security risk.
The groups involved believe that improving the primary fence and exploring technological solutions will achieve the goals of the INS. The Border Patrol and INS should be bound to work with concerned parties to complete this project so that the unique ecological, archeological and cultural resources are preserved and accessible.
UPCOMING RELATED ITEMS
1. - INS public meeting
Date and Time: September 12th 4 PM to 8 PM
Location: Imperial Beach Sports Complex
425 Imperial Beach Blvd
Imperial Beach
Call USBP Public Relations at (619) 216-4000.
2. Comment on the Final EIS. The title will be "Environmental Impact Statement for the Completion of the 14-mile Border Infrastructure System - San Diego, California." It should be available on-line at http://www.swf.usace.army.mil/ins/Pages/Publicreview.cfm sometime in October.
Comments should be sent to:
Charles McGregor
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District
Attn: CESWF-PER-EE
P.O. Box 17300
Fort Worth, TX 76102
3. Send letters to the California Coastal Commission urging them to vote against the Triple Border Fence Project. They are charged with protecting coastal resources and upholding the Coastal Act. The hearing will most likely be in the first week of November. Comments and lists of people against the project should be sent to:
Mark Deleplaine
California Coastal Commission
Federal Consistency Supervisor
45 Freemont Street, Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94105
(before October 18, 2002)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact Ed Kimura, San Diego Sierra Club Border Committee, emkimr@cts.com, 858-569-2025
This Alert was adapted from one prepared by Debbie Carey of Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association (SWIA) at swiadcarey@aol.com
See previous Border Fence Action Alert for details at www.activistsandiego.org/alerts/borderfence.html
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