Thread: Federal money for border environmental damage

Federal money for border environmental damage
Posted: Oct 31, 2010 9:17 PM PDT
Updated: Oct 31, 2010 9:17 PM PDT
Posted by Teresa Jun - email

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - The federal government will spend millions to restore damage caused by construction on the border fence with Mexico.

Nearly $7 million dollars is going toward environmental projects, including restoring wetlands, closing dirt roads, and studying bats.

It's the first part of a program to compensate for damage done by border security measures on public lands.

But the Arizona Cattlemen's Association says that money should go to help protect people first against drug cartels.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13419935

Studying bats? Can't they fly over a fence?

How about federal funds to repair the environmental damage done by illegal aliens?

Originally Posted by jean

Studying bats? Can't they fly over a fence?

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

How about federal funds to repair the environmental damage done by illegal aliens?

That damage doesn't count RM as it's being done by obama supporters....

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

How about federal funds to repair the environmental damage done by illegal aliens?

Funny how the powers that be know all about the damage, but do nothing about it.

The damage done by illegal aliens is unbelievable.

Department of the Interior - Immigration Fiscal Impact Statement

By Edwin S. Rubenstein Volume 18, Number 2 (Winter 2007-200
Issue theme: "What price mass immigration?"

www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc_18_2/tsc_18_2_rubenstein_doi.shtml+environmental+damage +done+by+illegal+aliens&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]Click On Link[/url]

[...]

The scope of the environmental damage caused by illegal aliens is detailed in a Bureau of Land Management report which we excerpt here:

Litter: Thousands of acres are covered by trash. It has been estimated that each immigrant ….discards at least eight pounds of trash on his/her journey through southern Arizona. This anecdotal figure feels correct to many individuals involved in removing trash. On this basis, with over 3,200,000 immigrants apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) since FY2000, almost 25,000,000 pounds of trash could have been left, 86 percent on federal and tribal lands in southern Arizona. Add to this the number of illegal immigrants that were not apprehended but left trash on these lands as they crossed, and we now have an understanding of the scope of the litter…What’s in the litter?....Essentially, litter includes:

- ï€* Containers and Bottles: Thousands of plastic water bottles from 1-gallon size to pint size, broken glass jars, electrolyte bottles, juices, milk containers, baby bottles, soda and beer bottles (many beer bottles shot to pieces). -

- Personal Hygiene Items and Medications: Razors, combs, brushes, shampoo, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, makeup, toothbrushes, medications (Naproxin, Advil, Aspirin, stomach meds, electrolytes), vitamins.

- Clothing and Shoes: Pants, sox, underwear, shirts, hats, caps, gloves, coats; high heels, shower shoes, boots, tennis shoes, sandals and thongs.

- Food and food cans: food cans (tuna, beans, juices, etc), mostly from Mexico, food cans opened with a pocketknife, leaving ragged edges and torn metal lids; tortillas, baby foods; food items in American store containers and bags.

- Jewelry: Watches, necklaces, bracelets, knives, and key chains.

- ï€* Paper: Many items originate from other countries besides Mexico. Forms from maquiladore factories; airline and bus ticket stubs; phone cards, Social Security cards, identification cards; pay receipts from the US; photographs, letters, books, promissory notes, paper money; toilet paper, sanitary pads, disposable diapers.

- Fabric and plastic: Back packs by the hundreds; blankets, towels, table cloths, serapes, rags, rope, string, wire, lots of plastic bags used for carrying food, or large ones for use as raincoats; fanny packs, shoulder packs, wallets, and gloves.

- Miscellaneous: Batteries, cell phones, radios, home-made weapons

- ï€* Human Waste: the accumulation of disintegrating toilet paper and human feces represents both health and safety concerns and is unsightly to visitors.

[...]

$52 Mil To Restore Habitat Damaged By Border Fence

Last Updated: Mon, 11/01/2010 - 12:15pm

The region where an illegal immigrant murdered an Arizona rancher six months ago remains plagued by Mexican drug-cartel violence yet the Obama Administration has chosen to spend $52 million on restoring habitat damaged by the border fence rather than secure the area.

A chunk of the cash—$14.3 million—will fund more than a dozen habitat restoration projects in a region long afflicted by the violence of Mexican drug and human smuggling operations. It’s an area where earlier this year a veteran cattle rancher (Robert Krentz) was gunned down by an illegal immigrant on his 34,000-acre property in Cochise County near the southern border.

Instead of dedicating resources to securing the crime-infested border region, the government will spend tens of millions of dollars to develop jaguar management plans, monitor fish populations, study bat movements, restore wetlands and plant various species of an ornamental tree native to the southwestern United States. The goal is to restore the areas damaged by construction of the border fence, according to the Arizona newspaper that reported the story over the weekend.

Billions have been spent on erecting fences along the 2,000-mile southern border and its time Uncle Sam allocates cash to protecting animals and plants, according to a government official quoted in the story. In this particular crime-infested area of Arizona, the tax dollars will go to six initial projects that include monitoring jaguars and restoring jaguar habitat ($2.1 million), monitoring endangered long-nosed and Mexican bat roosts ($1.9 million) and restoring vegetation in a stretch “damagedâ€