Of legal eagles and ocelots

Enviros file supreme suit to stop border wall

Posted by Glenn Hurowitz (Guest Contributor) at 3:51 PM on 20 Mar 2008

Read more about: politics | Mexico | Sierra Club

Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging elements of the REAL ID act, which gives Secretary of Homeland Security the power to waive any environmental laws that would get in the way of the 700-mile-long double-layered concrete wall Congress authorized for the U.S.-Mexico border.

From the press release announcing the lawsuit:

By granting one government official the absolute power to pick and choose which laws apply to border wall construction, the REAL ID Act proves itself to be both inherently dangerous and profoundly un-American. The issue here is not security vs. wildlife, but whether wildlife, sensitive environmental values, and communities along the border will be given fair consideration in the decisions the government makes," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will take up this case in order to protect the fundamental separation of powers principles enshrined in the United States Constitution."

The lawsuit seems to have some legs; a government official familiar with it said it had some chance of success.

The suit is an encouraging and important development for the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife, which have done significant local organizing to stop the border wall construction, but have been wary of engaging too aggressively on a national level because of the polarizing immigration debate.

But with more than 100 miles of wall already built and endangered species like ocelots, jaguars, and Sonoran pronghorn antelope threatened with extinction in the U.S. as a result, both groups have realized that this is not the time for caution.

The politics of the wall have also changed: McCain, Clinton, and Obama (who all voted to authorize the wall in the first place) have now questioned its effectiveness and fretted about the environmental consequences -- a signal that if environmental groups can build a strong enough national movement against the border wall, there may be hope for the imperiled wildlife and landscape of the Southwest.

For story: Of legal eagles and ocelots
7 Comments | Post a Comment

How 'bout the Jagarundi?

There are several wild cats down here, one being the Jagarundi. Magnificent cat, tho' rarely seen.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 8:58 PM on 20 Mar 2008

hooray genus Puma!

Earlier, when I was writing a comment about the Felidae in the "Aye Yi Yi" thread, in response to suggestions about introducing tigers into North America (!), and about recovering the DNA of a saber-toothed tiger (!!), I referred to an older nomenclature, and called the puma (or mountain lion) Felis concolor. But apparently the taxonomists have put it in its own genus now, along with the jaguarundi: Puma concolor, and P. yagouarundi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguarundi.

The IUCN seem to have given the jaguarundi the conservation status of "least concern." But that is misleading; surely the South Texas/Northern Mexico population deserves a great deal of concern.

Another animal affected by the wall, from some distance northwest of you, Sammie, is the interesting and beautiful subspecies of the Gray Wolf, the Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), with an original range from the Gila Mountains down into the mountains of central Chihuahua (Copper Canyon country) and eastern Sonora. Its coloring is distinctive, featuring more auburn and reddish brown along the flanks than in northern wolves. It was a female Mexican Wolf whom Aldo Leopold famously reports he shot and watched die, in "Sand River Almanac."

Wolves have been reintroduced in southeastern Arizona, but already their human neighbors have been picking on them, so they are not out of the woods. I believe that some have been reintroduced on the Mexican side, too; and ideally there should be a corridor between the Gila Mountains and the Sierra Madre Occidental. Unfortunately that would have to pass right through an especially touchy part of the border, around Nogales, AZ, where the Minutemen are out in force, and I think some of the border wall has already been built.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:15 AM on 21 Mar 2008

100 Miles?

Have they really built 100 miles of the wall already? What a monumental waste. The house is burning down around us and we're busily erecting a cardboard-box-and-blanket fort, to hide from the Boogeyman.

by kmp at 7:42 AM on 21 Mar 2008

fence status

Not sure of any fence construction in the lower Rio Valley, as many landowners have gone to court to resist / delay even access for the Army Corps of Engineers surveyors.

But the Fed will get its way eventually. The bummer is that there are both massive tracts of wilderness and hundreds of small plots of nature areas, must of it which will be given to Mexico (I kid you not). The Fed even purchased and owns thousands of acres as a refuge. Those small birding plots will go as well. Negotiations are underway to save half a college as well.

The real bummer that that the Fed was working with the locals on clearing invasive vegetation and improving the levees along the Rio. It is unclear if a fence would make things worse (just the levee repairs would take hundreds of millions and maybe 5 years). I'll save the cuss-words for another post ... somewhere. This is ridiculous.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 7:52 AM on 21 Mar 2008

Glad to see glimmers of resistance

Better late than never I suppose.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 8:39 AM on 25 Mar 2008

Fence types...

Have they really built 100 miles of the wall already?

Yes, but not all of it is the monumental wall of steel beams and concrete.

Though there hasn't been much reportin' on it, the majority of he fence is just, well, a simple fence.

Cyclone wire to be exact. Only a few portions are the "vehicle resistant" steel beams.

And cyclone wire fences don't last too long without maintenance (which we all know never happens to border fences), so most of the fence will actually be in pretty bad shape in say 4 or 5 years.

Bad for the taxpayer, but good in that it won't be a long-term detriment to wildlife.

The steel beam portions, on the other hand...

by Tasermons Partner at 11:33 AM on 25 Mar 2008

Good!

Let's send our prayers and good energy to Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club! On this issue, they need all the help they can get.

Let the jaguars return!

by Storm Dragon at 8:47 PM on 25 Mar 2008

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