US border wall construction to cause ‘Irreversible Damage’ to environment : Advocacy Group
Washington, May 15 (Sputnik/UNI) The Trump Administration’s plan to suspend or waive more than 40 environmental laws in order to extend its proposed border wall across two US states will damage ecosystems and harm wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) said in a press release.
"This senseless wall would rip a scar through the heart of the Sonoran Desert, kill endangered wildlife and cause irreversible damage. We’ll do everything in our power to stop this destruction," CBD borderlands campaigner Laiken Jordahl said on Tuesday.
The Trump administration will waive 41 environmental and public health laws to speed border-wall construction through federally protected sites in the US states of Arizona and California, the CBD noted.
An announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) earlier on Tuesday said the waivers would be used to build the wall through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabez Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Coronado National Memorial and other designated wilderness areas.
The CBP and other environmental groups have launched legal actions to challenge President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration that is being used as the legal basis to fund construction of the wall, the release said.
