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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCenter for Biological Diversity sues for release of records on Trump's border wall
April 23, 2019
Lawsuit Seeks Public Records on Border Wall Plans in National Wildlife Refuges
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/border-wall-public-records-04-23-2019.php?fbclid=IwAR3L-qtGqXua69ifN2G92bsuheV_-b16wbhHSEKL9J3M1Nn90f_w8NL2wDM
WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today for failing to release public records on President Trumps plans to build border walls through protected national wildlife refuges. Trump plans to build new, or newly fortified, border walls through at least six refuges that preserve some of the nations most fragile and spectacular landscapes.
Todays lawsuit seeks all records from the agency and national refuges that mention border walls, fences, levees or barriers, including emails, meeting notes, presentations, maps and correspondence. The Center requested the documents in July 2017 under the Freedom of Information Act, but the Trump administration has ignored that request.
The public has a right to know the back story of Trumps destructive border-wall obsession, said Jean Su, an attorney at the Center. Trumps already waived more than two dozen public health and safety laws to build these hateful walls, but hes apparently ashamed to admit that hes sacrificing spectacular wilderness in the process.
New border-wall construction will decimate the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, described by the Fish and Wildlife Service as one of the most biodiverse regions in North America. Trump has already built taller, sturdier replacement walls through the Tijuana Slough Wildlife Refuge near San Diego and plans to do the same in Arizonas Cabeza Prieta and Buenos Aires refuges, with no environmental review.
Public records and news reports show federal wildlife officials warned that building border walls through the ecologically diverse borderlands region could impede animal migration and destroy key habitat for a variety of rare wildlife, including ocelots and jaguarundi. They also warned that wall construction atop levees in the Lower Rio Grande Valley could trap wildlife to drown or starve during floods.
Trump is muzzling biologists and wildlife experts whove spent their careers protecting these irreplaceable refuges, said Su. He cant be allowed to bulldoze congressionally protected public lands and waters without taking responsibility for this destruction.
The National Wildlife Refuge system has grown to more than 562 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland-management districts since President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island as the first national wildlife refuge in 1903, three years before he signed the Antiquities Act.
Beyond jeopardizing wildlife, endangered species and public lands, the U.S.-Mexico border wall is part of a larger strategy of ongoing border militarization that damages human rights, civil liberties, native lands, local businesses and international relations. The border wall impedes the natural migrations of people and wildlife that are essential to healthy diversity.
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Center for Biological Diversity sues for release of records on Trump's border wall (Original Post)
Beringia
Apr 2019
OP
2naSalit
(86,515 posts)1. K&R!!
katmondoo
(6,454 posts)2. Trump is a one man wrecking ball