SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people," said Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. (Photo: Joe Piette/Flickr/cc)
Trump Bulldozes Environmental Laws to Pave Way for 'Xenophobic' Border Wall
"Trump's wall is a divisive symbol of fear and hatred, and it does real harm to the landscape and communities."
Aug 01, 2017
The Trump administration has already taken aim at a number of Obama-era environmental rules that protect the public water supply and safeguard children from dangerous pollutants at the behest of Big Oil. Now, he is trampling the environment to make good on one of his central campaign promises: a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people."
--Brian Segee, Center for Biological Diversity
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that it would waive a number of environmental regulations "in order to expedite building security-related barriers and roads along the nation's border with Mexico near San Diego," Reuters reported.
"Environmental impact studies generally are required under federal law for building on public lands," Reuters added, "but in this case the waiver will eliminate a study."
Last week, the House approved a spending package that included $1.6 billion of funding for Trump's border wall, which immigrant and refugee rights groups have denounced as "xenophobic" and "fueled by hate."
Critics had similar words for the DHS announcement on Tuesday.
Though President Donald Trump has framed his wall proposal as a national security measure, green groups have argued that it will do little to improve public safety. It will, however, have a devastating impact on wildlife and the environment, according to recent research.
"Bulldozing beloved wildlife refuges won't make us safer, but it will enrage people across the country," Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said recently.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people," Segee added on Tuesday. "Trump's wall is a divisive symbol of fear and hatred, and it does real harm to the landscape and communities."
In a statement, Sierra Club denounced the Trump administration's sprint to undercut environmental rules in order to move forward with his "lawless border wall and mass deportation agenda" as "absurd" and destructive.
"A decade of waiving environmental, historic, and cultural protections for sections of the wall already built has shown that doing so only causes harm to local communities, wildlife and wild places," concluded Dan Millis of Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Trump administration has already taken aim at a number of Obama-era environmental rules that protect the public water supply and safeguard children from dangerous pollutants at the behest of Big Oil. Now, he is trampling the environment to make good on one of his central campaign promises: a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people."
--Brian Segee, Center for Biological Diversity
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that it would waive a number of environmental regulations "in order to expedite building security-related barriers and roads along the nation's border with Mexico near San Diego," Reuters reported.
"Environmental impact studies generally are required under federal law for building on public lands," Reuters added, "but in this case the waiver will eliminate a study."
Last week, the House approved a spending package that included $1.6 billion of funding for Trump's border wall, which immigrant and refugee rights groups have denounced as "xenophobic" and "fueled by hate."
Critics had similar words for the DHS announcement on Tuesday.
Though President Donald Trump has framed his wall proposal as a national security measure, green groups have argued that it will do little to improve public safety. It will, however, have a devastating impact on wildlife and the environment, according to recent research.
"Bulldozing beloved wildlife refuges won't make us safer, but it will enrage people across the country," Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said recently.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people," Segee added on Tuesday. "Trump's wall is a divisive symbol of fear and hatred, and it does real harm to the landscape and communities."
In a statement, Sierra Club denounced the Trump administration's sprint to undercut environmental rules in order to move forward with his "lawless border wall and mass deportation agenda" as "absurd" and destructive.
"A decade of waiving environmental, historic, and cultural protections for sections of the wall already built has shown that doing so only causes harm to local communities, wildlife and wild places," concluded Dan Millis of Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program.
The Trump administration has already taken aim at a number of Obama-era environmental rules that protect the public water supply and safeguard children from dangerous pollutants at the behest of Big Oil. Now, he is trampling the environment to make good on one of his central campaign promises: a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people."
--Brian Segee, Center for Biological Diversity
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that it would waive a number of environmental regulations "in order to expedite building security-related barriers and roads along the nation's border with Mexico near San Diego," Reuters reported.
"Environmental impact studies generally are required under federal law for building on public lands," Reuters added, "but in this case the waiver will eliminate a study."
Last week, the House approved a spending package that included $1.6 billion of funding for Trump's border wall, which immigrant and refugee rights groups have denounced as "xenophobic" and "fueled by hate."
Critics had similar words for the DHS announcement on Tuesday.
Though President Donald Trump has framed his wall proposal as a national security measure, green groups have argued that it will do little to improve public safety. It will, however, have a devastating impact on wildlife and the environment, according to recent research.
"Bulldozing beloved wildlife refuges won't make us safer, but it will enrage people across the country," Brian Segee, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said recently.
"Trump wants to scare people into letting him ignore the law and endanger wildlife and people," Segee added on Tuesday. "Trump's wall is a divisive symbol of fear and hatred, and it does real harm to the landscape and communities."
In a statement, Sierra Club denounced the Trump administration's sprint to undercut environmental rules in order to move forward with his "lawless border wall and mass deportation agenda" as "absurd" and destructive.
"A decade of waiving environmental, historic, and cultural protections for sections of the wall already built has shown that doing so only causes harm to local communities, wildlife and wild places," concluded Dan Millis of Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter Borderlands Program.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.