Posted on 07/23/2017 2:12:10 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
President Donald Trump plans to use anti-terror law to avoid undergoing a years-long environmental impact study for a large section of a border wall that is expected to travel through a wildlife refuge, Reuters reported Friday night.
Trump will use a 2005 anti-terror law created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack to sidestep an environmental impact study for a 32-mile portion of the border wall, sources told Reuters. The proposed section will pass through the 2,000-acre Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge near the southern tip of Texas.
The area is home to 400 species of birds as well as a dwindling population of federally protected ocelots. There are only about 50 ocelots remaining in the U.S., according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Anonymous sources told Reuters that the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) would rely on the exemptions provided to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the guises of the Real ID Act, which would help the government build the wall without waiting several years for permission.
Environmental impact studies are required under federal law whenever a project is built on public lands, including national forests, wildlife refuges, among other federally protected lands. CPB spokesman Carlos Diaz told reporters Trump’s wall construction depends on whether Congress will allocate money needed for its completion.
“CBP, like all other federal agencies, may rely on Categorical Exclusions to achieve NEPA compliance for routine agency activities, like the soil sampling, that have minimal to no environmental impact,” he said, referring to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which makes environmental studies mandatory.
Trump made building a giant border wall stretching from coast to coast part of his campaign message during the presidential election. He also claimed that the White House would force Mexico to pay for the wall through various tax measurements.
The U.S. House of Representatives announced July 11 that $1.6 billion in the budget would go toward Trump’s border wall, setting the stage for a brawl between parties that could potentially lead to a government shutdown.
Republican lawmakers are pushing for $44.3 billion in funding — a $1.9 billion increase from 2017 spending levels. The $1.6 billion is part of $13.8 billion in discretionary spending directed toward the CPB.
Various industries argue that environmental reviews tend to grind down progress on projects. The energy industry, for instance, has haggled with elements within both Republican and Democratic administration over such studies companies say hold up important gas and oil pipelines.
Smart, but they’ll still find a judge
I agree with Trump on this.
more winning. using existing rules against moonbats
Good, it’ll save both time and money as well as infuriating the enviro-nazis.
We almost have the Supreme Court nailed down.
Birds fly over walls...
Didn’t know what an Ocelot was. It’s a cat, looks like a leopard and they’re conservation status is “Least Concern”. There’s tons of them south of the border.
Birds can fly over the wall
Hoping Trump isolates all the enviro Nazis on the south side of the wall.
About 50 ocelots remaining in the U.S.
From the Rio Grande on down through Central and South America they number in the millions.
They are NOT an endangered species. Nature cares not for political boundaries.
Me too. But will the judge?
When I visited Arches National Park, we were told not to walk on the desert, to stay on the paved trail, since there is some kind of organism that takes 30 years to recover in the desert sand. How much damage do you think illegal aliens do to the countryside, with their footprints and garbage?
"Report: Trump Will Use Anti-Terror Law To Sidestep Enviro Review For Border Wall"
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
Although federal policing of the environment is arguably a good idea, patriots are reminded that the states have never expressly constitutionally delegated to the feds the specific power to make environmental policy.
"From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
So I’m glad that Trump isn’t letting unconstitutional federal policing of the environment get in the way of building his wall.
Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!
Since corrupt Congress is the biggest part of the swamp (imo) that Trump wants to drain, it is actually up to patriots to drain the swamp in the 2018 elections, patriots supporting Trump by electing as many new members of Congress as they can who will support Trump.
In the meanwhile, patriots need to make sure that there are plenty of Trump-supporting candidates on the primary ballots.
Patriots need to qualify candidates by asking them why the Founding States made the Constitution’s Section 8 of Article I; to limit (cripple) the federal government’s powers.
Patriots also need to make sure that candidates are knowledgeable of the Supreme Court's clarifications of the federal government’s limited powers listed above.
Also, unlike incumbent members of Congress who wrongly remained silent while misguided state officials abridged the constitutionally enumerated rights of citizens during the lawless Obama Administration, patriots need to make sure that candidates on the 2018 primary ballots commit to the following.
Candidates need to commit to making and enforcing 14th Amendment-related laws to prosecute misguided state officials who use state powers to abridge constitutionally enumerated protections, 1st Amendment-protected religious expression and free speech for example, such actions prohibited by Section 1 of the 14th Amendment.
”14th Amendment, Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [emphasis added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
GOOD, securing our southern border is far more important than worrying about a few plants and critters that will probably do just fine anyway.
I object to the word “sidestep” in fhe headline, as that connotes trickery to avoid something that ought to be done. The headline should be Anti-Terror Law Helps Trump Avoid Environmental Red Tape Delays To Border Wall - or something like that, so the negative connotation is on those seeking delay, not on those rightly avoiding it.
Maybe we can put some bird-killing windmills on that section of the wall instead of solar panels - just for the fun of watching the enviro-nazi leftists heads exploding.
As to the ocelots, since they are basically cats, let's send them to D.C. as the job of the U.S. Senate is "herding cats," so they are very well trained to care for them, the ocelots, that is!
“SEC. 102. WAIVER OF LEGAL REQUIREMENTS NECESSARY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BARRIERS AT BORDERS; FEDERAL COURT REVIEW.
Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) is amended to read as follows:
`(c) Waiver-
`(1) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive all legal requirements such Secretary, in such Secretary’s sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads under this section. Any such decision by the Secretary shall be effective upon being published in the Federal Register. “
But wait a minute. How come the environmentalists never said a damn thing about the illegals pollution along the border? Have anyone seen pictures of the border? There are tons of water plastic jugs, backpacks, feces, condoms, and even human remains. Where are the environmentalists on this? A border wall will actually make the environment down there cleaner.
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