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Environmental red tape stalls border agents trying to fill drug-smuggler tunnels
http://www.foxnews.com ^ | 5/25/18 | Alex Pappas

Posted on 05/25/2018 2:08:57 PM PDT by BBell

Environmental red tape is causing “long delays” for border agents as they try to fill tunnels used to smuggle people and dangerous drugs into the U.S. from Mexico, according to border officials and Republican lawmakers who have discussed the problem with agents.

Frustrated agents complain the lengthy federal review process can stall critical tunnel-plugging efforts for months after passageways are first discovered.

The tunnels are being used to move people, illegal drugs and even fake pharmaceuticals. But regulations stemming from laws like the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act are putting "remediation" on hold.

“I heard firsthand accounts from our Border Patrol agents that environmental red tape is hindering their ability to secure the border,” Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, told Fox News this week.

Bishop, along with Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman, traveled to the Arizona border in February to meet with border agents and discuss how environmental laws and regulations are impacting security. Bishop, who has legislation aimed at addressing these issues, said they learned of the "significant delay in remediating illicit tunnels," a process where they are filled with gravel and concrete.

A Customs and Border Protection official confirmed to Fox News they've encountered “long delays” in remediating tunnels, acknowledging environmental regulations make up a “good portion of the delay.”

The official said other delays come with “clearing out a tunnel, mapping out the tunnel underground to know where to remediate from above, getting funding for the remediation and fulfilling a contract to a construction company to carry out the remediation.”

One particularly protracted response revolved around a sophisticated border tunnel -- the length of three football fields -- discovered in the town of Naco, Ariz., in February 2015. Photos show

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: aliens; borderagents; drugsmuggler; environmental; tunnels
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Deep state in the EPA? Whoda thunk.
1 posted on 05/25/2018 2:08:57 PM PDT by BBell
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To: BBell

Throw a stick of dynamite down them and swear it must have been illegals themselves. Who’s to say different?


2 posted on 05/25/2018 2:11:42 PM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.")
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To: BBell

3 posted on 05/25/2018 2:13:40 PM PDT by Doogle (( USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand....never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
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To: BBell

It’s treason.

Just my opinion.


4 posted on 05/25/2018 2:14:44 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BBell

They need the Rodenator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgztUzqaL3E


5 posted on 05/25/2018 2:15:19 PM PDT by rey
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To: BBell

Hmmm for some reason suddenly every tunnel is wired by the cartels to self destruct if discovered .... Ooops


6 posted on 05/25/2018 2:15:55 PM PDT by gtwizard (Income Inequality is called INCENTIVE!)
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To: BBell

Notice how the epa doesn’t regulate the rodents building the tunnels.


7 posted on 05/25/2018 2:18:11 PM PDT by lurk
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To: BBell

Our Government is and has been totally stupid. Tell the Dept. of Interior and the EPA that our nations security is above these useless agencies. Gravel and cement to fill the tunnels? Whatever happened to a few sticks of dynamite? Sick of this crap! Six months to fill a tunnel? How about six minutes to clean your desk out and leave!


8 posted on 05/25/2018 2:19:08 PM PDT by Colo9250 (Every morning I wake up I thank God that I am a deplorable.)
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To: BBell
Just put rattlesnakes down in the tunnels. They are environmentally friendly.
9 posted on 05/25/2018 2:21:53 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob ("Other People's Money" = The life blood of Liberalism)
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To: BBell

Yes, the Eco fascist laws are ludicrous.

But, this doesn’t make sense. If the tunnel is known, it doesn’t need to be filled to not be used.

In fact, if they leave them open and wait for them to be used, they can everyone using them.


10 posted on 05/25/2018 2:22:53 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: BBell

Spike the tunnels 8w/ anthrax


11 posted on 05/25/2018 2:22:56 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse (America First !)
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To: Colo9250

Our government has been given over to a reprobate mindset.


12 posted on 05/25/2018 2:23:45 PM PDT by Maudeen (www.ThereIsHopeInJesus.com)
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To: rey

I had never heard of a “rodenator”. At first I thought this video was a joke.


13 posted on 05/25/2018 2:25:09 PM PDT by BBell (calm down and eat your sandwiches)
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To: lurk

see post 5.


14 posted on 05/25/2018 2:26:39 PM PDT by BBell (calm down and eat your sandwiches)
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To: BBell

Just do it DJT. Let them tie it up in the courts after the fact.


15 posted on 05/25/2018 2:28:02 PM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you)
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To: BBell

They’re getting too much $$$ off their partnerships with the cartels to allow the tunnels to be closed.
If Trump were to be impeached, ironically, it’s for his failure to honor/uphold Art 4, Sec 4 — which would be used to impeach him.


16 posted on 05/25/2018 2:32:51 PM PDT by Edward.Fish
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To: BBell

... The same will happen when they try to build the wall .... Suddenly there will magically appear a myriad of RARE species discovered that will be in dire need of protection.


17 posted on 05/25/2018 2:34:34 PM PDT by R_Kangel ( "A Nation of Sheep ..... Will Beget ..... a Nation Ruled by Wolves.")
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To: bgill

Rats and rattlesnakes.


18 posted on 05/25/2018 2:36:46 PM PDT by gundog (Hail to the Chief, bitches.)
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To: BBell

“Bishop, along with Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman, traveled to the Arizona border in February to meet with border agents and discuss how environmental laws and regulations are impacting security. Bishop, who has legislation aimed at addressing these issues, said they learned of the “significant delay in remediating illicit tunnels,” a process where they are filled with gravel and concrete.”

For starters, they could get very specific about which “Trump Administration Agencies” are causing the delays! I am amazed on an almost daily basis how much of the “government” seems to go on no matter who’s in the White House, and I don’t understand what takes so long to weed out the holdovers and to change direction.


19 posted on 05/25/2018 2:40:20 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: BBell

Israel floods the Pali tunnels with raw sewage. Seems like a good idea to me.


20 posted on 05/25/2018 2:42:54 PM PDT by broken_clock (Go Trump!)
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