Over 25 years, the stretches of native habitat that make up the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge were stitched together  carefully - and with lots of federal dollars.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized the vital importance of this precious habitat along the Rio Grande, which is esentially about all that’s left of the native terrain that once made  up all of the Valley. At nearly 100,000 acres and running in a checkboard fashion along the river, this network of native lands is home to an array of endangered species that have moved back-and-forth across the river for ages - and long before anyone uttered the words, “illegal aliens.”

Great care and maintenance - along with significant amounts of federal dollars - have been invested into being good stewards of these endangered lands. American taxpayers, through their yearly contributions due by April 15, made the funding for purchase and maintenance of these lands possible. Now after all of this painstaking care and the expenditure of millions of federal dollars for this endeavor, the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, is casting it all aside, saying, in effect, “never mind,” as he invokes special powers unwisely given to him by Congress to play the role of heavy-handed kingmaker.

Chertoff on Tuesday waived the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and other environmental protections to allow the the feds to finish building 700 miles of border fencing by year’s end. It is urgent, Chertoff claims, to put up the fence as soon as possible because, he says, Americans are clamoring for increased border security. It is debatable if such real urgency exists to keep out all of those dasterdely sheet rockers, farm workers and hotel cleaning ladies who do such great harm to America, but even if one one believes such a thing, shouldn’t the federal goverment respect its own laws?

We all accept that the border fence in some fashion is a done deal. But shouldn’t homeland security go through the legally mandated reviews of the consequences the fence will inflict? Perhaps that’s too much ask for a federal department agency that is all too eager to take legal action to confisicate the land of private property owners along the river for the vaunted fence, even when such lands have been in the hands of some American families for generations.

I’m not a squishy environmentalist nor do I count birdwatching as a hobby, but I respect both fields and endeavors, and even more so question the absolute need to run any fencing into the heart of carefully preserved natural areas. Can’t the feds run the thing around these areas, or pause long enough to carefully consider the best way to do it? Is it really essential to natural security to close the Sabal Palm Audubon Center after it will be rendered moot after Chertoff builds his fence through it? Is it really necessary to sqauander the millions of dollars in federal spending it took to buy 90,000 acres of land for the LRGV refuge by barreling fencing through much of it?

It is one thing for Chertoff to build his fence across the flat, federally owned desert of Arizona where no one cares if 20-foot fences go up to discourage Mexican immigrants who want to come into this country to clean hotel rooms, do landscaping, pick crops or build houses. It’s another to do the same to one of America’s more environmentally sensitive areas of native habitat along a river that divides two countries.

Litigation efforts to stop Chertoff from his plans to appease anti-immigration hardliners will likely fail, but Congress does  have oversight power to make this guy show that he has properly consulted local officials and landowners in construction of the fence. Legislation passed last December by the Congress ties funding of homeland security to Chertoff doing his job in providing detailed justification for each segment of the fence.

It looks like Chertoff sees all such requirements as hassles he doesn’t want to deal with - nor believes he is obligated to follow. Here’s a wish that Congress will remind Chertoff that he reports to the elected officials of  this country - and the people they represent - and not just his own wishes and ambitions.

- Joaquin C. Tijerina, Official Chisme Blogger

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.