Free Republic

Officials have ordered a privately funded section of wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to keep its gate open indefinitely, saying organizers failed to obtain required permits, according to BuzzFeed News. The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), which oversees waterway issues between the U.S. and Mexico, said the organizers of We Build the Wall, which raised more than $23 million, had not obtained permission to build on federal land. The half-mile barrier, on the border near Sunland Park, N.M., restricts access to a public monument and waterways, according to the IBWC. "This is normally done well in advance of a...

NOGALES, AZ (AP) - Arizona officials say the state is suing the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission for state permit and Clean Water Act violations caused by allowing untreated industrial wastewater to cross the U.S. border from Mexico at Nogales. The Nogales International reports that the lawsuit, filed Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges that the IBWC has failed to implement a program to keep industrial waste from entering domestic sewage, which has resulted in illegal levels of cadmium, cyanide and ammonia nitrogen entering Arizona. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality says it will ask the court to...

When it rains in this border town, toxic goo from Mexican slums and factories flows down the Tijuana River onto U.S. soil. It winds through tidal marshes and ends up in the Pacific Ocean, closing the beach to swimmers and diehard surfers 198 days last year. The U.S. government found a novel fix: pay a private developer an estimated $700 million to build and manage a treatment plant in Tijuana, Mexico. If the plant sells recycled water to thirsty Mexican factories, U.S. taxpayers will get some of their money back. Ground has not yet broken and the 7-year-old agreement between...

Two members of the state Assembly's Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing yesterday in San Diego to address what the state can do to protect coastal waters from being polluted by sewage from Mexico. But the answer appeared to be that in this time of tight finances, the best the state can do is keep pressuring the federal government for funding for sewage treatment. State Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña called the hearing because of her concerns about the tentative plan to award a no-bid contract to a private company called Bajagua, which is proposing to build a sewage treatment plant...