Greenies: Border Fence A Berlin Wall

The Center for Biological Diversity has its global politics confused. As I recall, the Berlin Wall was built to keep East Germans in, not West Germans out ... but CBD is calling the proposed Border Fence a Berlin Wall.

Know a lot of Americans who are dying to flee America for Mexico?

All that aside, here's the CBD letter:

The Senate is about to vote on a bill that would build a ‘Berlin wall’ on the US-Mexico border creating an enormous wildlife barrier, spanning 700 miles of the international boundary and nearly the entirety of Arizona's southern boundary. This would be an environmental disaster, utterly preventing wildlife migrations between the two countries, blocking Jaguar, Sonoran Pronghorn, and Mexican Gray Wolf recovery and fragmenting the habitats of myriad border species. This bill MANDATES construction of double-layered fencing no later than May 30, 2008 and trumps efforts like wildlife-friendly vehicle barriers along public-lands boundaries that have been effective in mitigating cross-border traffic. (Effective? That explains why there are only 10 million illegals here!)

The bill that the Senate will be voting on early next week not only mandates construction of this multi-layer fence, but also will allow the Department of Homeland Security exemption from all applicable laws as they build it. (Because the Endangered Species Act would stop them from building it, natch.) This could mean that the disruption and destruction of cultural and environmental resources along the border will proceed without any analysis or public notice, even if the construction project would destroy the habitat of endangered species, create water pollution or destroy cultural sites. (And that, of course, means no attorney fees for the CBD -- and attorney fees are the CBD's lifeblood.)

It's always nice when the Greens show their priorities so clearly: Critters first, their finances second, and national security a far and distant third.

Related Tags: Environment, Environmentalism, Border security, Border fence, Center for Biological Diversity