Homeland Security Bill would exempt border fence from every environmental law

Would create Maginot Line turned on desert environment

The House of Representatives on Oct. 8 passed an amendment to HR 10, the Homeland Security Bill, to exempt the Mexican-border fence from virtually every environmental statute under the sun (and virtually every other law too). The amendment was offered by Rep. Doug Ose (R - Sacramento).

This triple fence would be wide enough to park a 727 between the fences and would fill in border canyons to facilitate the construction. More fill would be required than the volume of Hoover Dam. This is a bald Republican play to jam things through that would otherwise never pass, using public fears over 9/11 as the grease. Rep. Sam Farr fought a great fight against this measure, but had little help, partly because this came up at the last minute. There were only 160 "no" votes. Everyone should thank Farr, dean of the California congressional delegation.

Rep. David Dreier amazingly claimed we needed to exempt the project from environmental laws because the massive project would be good for the environment.

The good news is that this amendment is so far beyond anything the Senate has adopted that it will be unlikely to get through the conference committee. The Senate version is a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT).

What You Can Do

Contact Sens. Dianne Feinstein at (202) 224-3841 and Barbara Boxer at (202) 224-3553. Ask them to oppose any provision to exempt the border fence from environmental law, whether as a rider to a Senate version of the Hill or as a provision in the conference report.

Carl Zichella, regional staff director, Sierra Club California/Nevada/Hawaii Regional Office