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Damage from border wall: blown-up mountains, toppled cactus
The Associated Press ^ | December 17, 2020 | By ANITA SNOW

Posted on 12/17/2020 6:50:00 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

GUADALUPE CANYON, Ariz. - Work crews ignite dynamite blasts in the remote and rugged southeast corner of Arizona, forever reshaping the landscape as they pulverize mountaintops in a rush to build more of President Donald Trump’s border wall before his term ends next month.

Each blast in Guadalupe Canyon releases puffs of dust as workers level land to make way for 30-foot-tall (9-meter-tall) steel columns near the New Mexico line. Heavy machines crawl over roads gouged into rocky slopes while one tap-tap-taps open holes for posts on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property.

Trump has expedited border wall construction in his last year, mostly in wildlife refuges and Indigenous territory the government owns in Arizona and New Mexico, avoiding the legal fights over private land in busier crossing areas of Texas. The work has caused environmental damage, preventing animals from moving freely and scarring unique mountain and desert landscapes that conservationists fear could be irreversible. The administration says it’s protecting national security, citing it to waive environmental laws in its drive to fulfill a signature immigration policy.

Environmentalists hope President-elect Joe Biden will stop the work, but that could be difficult and expensive to do quickly and may still leave pillars towering over sensitive borderlands.

The worst damage is along Arizona’s border, from century-old saguaro cactuses toppled in the western desert to shrinking ponds of endangered fish in eastern canyons. Recent construction has sealed off what was the Southwest’s last major undammed river. It’s more difficult for desert tortoises, the occasional ocelot and the world’s tiniest owls to cross the boundary.

“Interconnected landscapes that stretch across two countries are being converted into industrial wastelands,” said Randy Serraglio of the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: border; illegalaliens; immigration; invasion; wall
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1 posted on 12/17/2020 6:50:00 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
So what?!?!

How about a list of damages from uncontrolled border crossings?

2 posted on 12/17/2020 6:51:12 AM PST by G Larry (Authority is vested in those to whom it applies.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Looks fine to me. Life goes on as you topple some cacti and a few mountain passes.


3 posted on 12/17/2020 6:52:01 AM PST by dforest (RATS are criminals and frauds. Hide anything that belongs to you. They will steal it.)
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To: G Larry

I thought it was all about the spotted frog and the strpied minnows


4 posted on 12/17/2020 6:52:18 AM PST by ronnie raygun ( Massive mistakes are made by arrogant fools; massive evils are committed by evil people.")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The illegals leave a pristine environment?


5 posted on 12/17/2020 6:53:19 AM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Whatever it takes


6 posted on 12/17/2020 6:54:03 AM PST by Bell Bouy II
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To: ronnie raygun

It was, but now that the HarrisBoiden/Xi regime is about to ascend, its all about working up popular sentiment to try and hang DJT for any crime they can make stick, also about rewriting history.


7 posted on 12/17/2020 6:54:34 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Sounds fabulous, maybe I will take my Wife there for a Picnic and Watch for a While


8 posted on 12/17/2020 6:55:11 AM PST by eyeamok
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The only problem with that wall is that it doesn’t have machine gun nests.


9 posted on 12/17/2020 6:55:19 AM PST by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Have!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Like construction of interstate highways and laying railroads hadn’t caused damage in the landscape for the past 100 years.

But since its ‘Trump’s’ border wall all the lefty tree-huggers are enraged!


10 posted on 12/17/2020 6:55:37 AM PST by Bellagio
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Oh deary me.

Construction has been using dynamite for nearly two centuries.

Let's tear down the hoover damn and put everything back the way we found it. 🙄
11 posted on 12/17/2020 6:55:45 AM PST by z3n
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Let’s not forget about all the damage to sand and dirt this wall construction has caused!!!


12 posted on 12/17/2020 6:56:27 AM PST by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Biden/Harris are licking their chops and warming their hands at the thought of the $3.3 billion still set aside (according to another article) for the wall construction.


13 posted on 12/17/2020 6:57:25 AM PST by jughandle (Big words anger me, keep talking. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Ok, I will give you a choice:

A. Build a wall to secure the safety of every American.

Or

B. Secure the border with machine guns and bayonets, with no mercy.


14 posted on 12/17/2020 6:58:34 AM PST by Terry L Smith
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Save the dirt!

Save the rocks!

We have to have stuff to put in Democrat’s heads or they’ll float away!


15 posted on 12/17/2020 6:58:59 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: G Larry
I guess this trash, a minute sampling of what the illegals dump on our land, is better, right?


16 posted on 12/17/2020 6:59:24 AM PST by EinNYC
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This is the start of a campaign by the left to get the wall torn down.

We know Biden if he gets in office will stop all new construction, the only question is will he tear down what’s already built or will Kamala tear down the wall if she becomes POTUS...


17 posted on 12/17/2020 7:00:05 AM PST by srmanuel (It)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Oh Dear Lord No—Not toppled cacti!! That Trump is a monster!!


18 posted on 12/17/2020 7:00:06 AM PST by hanamizu
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Oh, the horror!!!
The horror of it all!!!
The rampant destruction of...well...nothing, but the horror of it. Orange man bad!!!! /S


19 posted on 12/17/2020 7:00:08 AM PST by lgjhn23 (Libs are a virus.....the DemoVirus!!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I think of all the damage that is done by the drugs that come across that border.


20 posted on 12/17/2020 7:00:17 AM PST by ryderann
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