DHS Grants Environmental Waiver to Speed Texas Border Wall Construction

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) granted an expedited environmental waiver to move the construction of 15-miles of new border wall system segments forward in South Texas. The project consists of five non-contiguous segments in areas where no physical barrier currently exist.

DHS officials issued an expedited environmental waiver on April 15 to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials to move forward the construction of new border wall systems along the Rio Grande in South Texas, according to information obtained from CBP. The waivers apply to construction projects awarded in March 2020

Breitbart Texas reported when CBP officials awarded a series of construction contracts on March 15 to build new border wall systems that include a 30-foot steel bollard walls, all-weather roads, lighting, enforcement cameras, and other security technologies in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.

“RGV is the busiest sector in the nation and, for the FY to date, accounts for approximately 25% of the illegal alien apprehensions and ranks first in seized cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana along the southwest border,” CBP officials stated. “The majority of its activity is occurring in areas where RGV has limited infrastructure, access and mobility, and technology.”

The contract calls for four non-contiguous segments. They will connect to other recently completed wall segments near Roma, Rio Grande City, Escobares, La Grulla, and a community known as Salineño, in Starr County, Texas.

“This project will improve RGV Sector’s ability to impede and deny illegal border crossings and the drug and human smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations,” officials explained.

DHS officials said the agency “will continue coordinating and consulting with other federal, state, and local resource agencies and other interested stakeholders to ensure that potential impacts to the environment, wildlife, and cultural and historic resources are analyzed and minimized, to the greatest extent possible.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.