Published: 10.23.2007
Fence go-ahead from Chertoff upsets Grijalva and Giffords
The Associated Press

Both southern Arizona congressional representatives are miffed that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff locked local communities out of decision-making by waiving several federal laws to build seven miles of fence in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
Work on nearly two miles of the fence had been suspended since Oct. 10, when federal district Judge Ellen Huvelle ordered a delay on its construction. She ruled the federal government did not fully study the environmental impact of the fence.
Congress gave Chertoff the power to waive environmental and other laws to build border barriers when it passed the REAL ID Act in 2005. He used that power Monday. By invoking his authority, Chertoff disregarded border communities and environmental concerns after collaborating with border towns in Texas where similar fencing was installed, said U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.
"We are not afforded that courtesy in Arizona," Grijalva said.
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., whose district includes the San Pedro, will press on with trying to balance local needs and border security, she said.
"The Department of Homeland Security must listen to the environmentalists and border residents of southern Arizona before resuming fence construction," Giffords said.
The REAL ID Act requires standards for driver's licenses that will be required as identification to board planes and enter federal buildings.
This is the third time Chertoff has used the waiver power. He used it in September 2005 to finish building 14 miles of fence in San Diego, and in January for fencing in the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in Arizona.
Chertoff said he was not invoking the power simply to brush aside environmental laws.
"We are trying to respect the substance of the environmental process and we are using the waiver authority where it looks like people are simply trying to stop or slow us down by throwing up procedural obstacles" and using litigation, Chertoff told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Some environmental laws waived are the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Solid Waste Disposal Act. Chertoff also waived conservation laws such as the National Historic Preservation Act and the Antiquities Act.
Chertoff said his agency has "exhaustively examined" environmental issues in the area and that there were 19,000 arrests in the Arizona conservation area in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. DHS said that was a significant increase over 2006.
Citizen Staff Writer Blake Morlock contributed to this article.
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