Twenty-six federal laws were set aside for the new section of border wall to be built in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
All laws waived by the Biden administration are designed to protect wildlife and public health.
They include: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Farmland Protection Policy Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. .
An analysis of the plans by The Post shows that Starr County, where the wall is being built, continues into a wildlife preserve, near farmland that could be contaminated, and surrounds small towns that are likely to be affected. for the construction.
Deborah Sivas, a professor of environmental law at Stanford Law School, told The Post that she is “personally concerned” about the exemptions because they apply to almost “every conceivable environmental law you can think of.”
“For any federal project, the agency usually has to evaluate things… There are a lot of endangered species along the border and they are fragile.
26 federal laws have been set aside to build a new section of border wall, cutting through a wildlife preserve, farmland and small towns likely to be affected by the project.X / @IngridNewkirk
“What this is doing is giving up on that whole process and saying ‘just start building.'”
Starr County is home to about 65,000 residents and several species of endangered animals (including the ocelot, a spotted bobcat) and plants, spread across approximately 1,200 square miles that are part of the Lower Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Rio Grande.
According to Sivas, the waivers allow the Department of Homeland Security to completely bypass environmental review processes and will not need to obtain a permit to ensure that it is not discharging pollutants or hazardous substances, Sivas explained.
They include: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Agricultural Land Protection Policy Act, and the Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Native Americans.Wikipedia
“I have serious concerns about this,” he said.
“It’s not the wall or the infrastructure itself that is necessarily the problem… it’s the staging, the onboarding of employees, the construction of labor camps, the management of waste… none of that will be subject to environmental laws are widely suspended,” he said.
“It is quite serious if [the project is] affecting wetlands or stream systems and not going through a review process.
Deborah Sivas, a professor of environmental law at Stanford Law School, told The Post that she is “personally concerned” about the exemptions because they apply to almost “every conceivable environmental law you can imagine.”
The border barrier design is slated to include 18-foot-tall, six-inch square steel bollards spaced approximately four inches apart and embedded in a movable concrete base, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The Biden administration’s announcement of a waiver of more than a dozen federal laws marks a marked shift from its previous stance on the border wall.
Biden repeatedly expressed his opposition to the wall while running for the 2020 election, saying, “There will not be another foot of wall construction in my administration.”
According to Sivas, the waivers allow the Department of Homeland Security to completely bypass environmental review processes and will not need to obtain a permit to ensure that it is not discharging pollutants or hazardous substances, Sivas explained.
“Building a massive wall spanning the entire southern border is not a serious political solution,” Biden said in a proclamation to halt construction on Jan. 20, 2021.
The 26 federal laws that the Biden administration waived to build the new border wall are:
- National Environmental Policy Law
- Endangered Species Act
- Federal Water Pollution Control Law
- National Historic Preservation Act
- Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- Migratory Bird Conservation Law
- Clean Air Act
- Archaeological Resources Protection Law
- Paleontological Resources Preservation Law
- Safe Drinking Water Act
- noise control law
- Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Responsibility Law
- Archaeological and Historical Preservation Law
- Antiquities Law
- Law on historic sites, buildings and antiquities
- Agricultural Land Protection Policy Law
- National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act
- National Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956
- Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act
- National Trails System Law
- Administrative Procedure Law
- Eagle Protection Law
- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
- American Indian Religious Freedom Act
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Source: vtt.edu.vn