By Rebecca Santana
The Trump administration is considering reducing the scope of a planned border project through Big Bend National Park in Texas, a contentious undertaking that has drawn bipartisan opposition over concerns it will irrevocably mar the remote, majestic area.
The announcement on plans for the national park, made in two court filings late Tuesday, gave no details on what the government may do. In August, the Republican administration initiated a pause on construction-related activity in the park as it engaged in outreach efforts to opponents of the project. The pause ends Wednesday.
Customs and Border Protection is “actively considering adjustments” to the work “that would reduce its scope and avoid or minimize potential impacts, based on input received from the National Park Service and other stakeholders,” the government said in the court filing.
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The agency said it will make a final decision the first week in October and will take “several weeks” after that announcement before any “ground-disturbing work” starts.
After intense opposition from environmentalists and local residents and business owners, CBP backed off plans this year to build a 30-foot-tall bollard wall through the park. But its intention to move forward with other measures such as a new road, lights, vehicle barriers and technology did not quell local resistance.
After bulldozers were spotted in August clearing land in Big Bend, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced a pause on all activity there and it was later expanded to the area upstream of the park. The agency has said it was only carrying out design and planning work, not full-scale construction activities.
Opponents of the border project called on the administration Wednesday to continue the pause while coming up with a new plan.
Bob Krumenaker, head of Keep Big Bend Wild and a former NPS superintendent at the park, said in a statement that the Border Patrol already works with the park service and local sheriffs to operate an “effective surveillance system” in Big Bend that includes ground sensors and patrols. The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks said building in the park would be “mutilating an extraordinary landscape.”
The project is part of a $46 billion plan by the administration to line the U.S.-Mexico border with steel bollard walls, vehicle barriers and surveillance technology to deter migrants and smugglers.
The government has also paused work on a 61-mile piece of land stretching north of the national park along the Rio Grande River, most of which is owned by private landowners. In that area, the government plans to build a 30-foot-tall steel bollard wall designed to prevent people on foot from crossing, roads and various types of surveillance technology where appropriate, according to the court filing.
CBP has started building the wall in a West Texas part of the broader Big Bend region, but has run into intense opposition there, including from landowners challenging the project in court.
Also in the court filing Tuesday, the government suggested it was facing resistance in getting permission from landowners to survey and build on their property and would be referring some cases to the Department of Justice to pursue condemnation.
The government also detailed efforts it had made to meet with people potentially affected by Big Bend projects and shared with them incidents of cartel-related violence that concerned the Border Patrol.
The administration has been pushing forward with the border wall projects that have long been a key part of President Donald Trump’s vision for border security. The agency said it is building 12 miles (19 kilometers) of wall per week.
But lining up against the work are private landowners, Native American tribes, environmental groups and others who question the necessity and cost of the project at a time when illegal immigration has fallen dramatically. Opponents also have accused the government of damaging Native American sites and sensitive ecology locations in its rush to finish construction.
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