Bishop bill seeks to waive environmental rules for border patrol


By Thomas Burr

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Apr 14 2011 11:03AM
Updated 50 minutes ago

Washington • Border patrol agents would be able to cross into sensitive wilderness areas, build and maintain roads, construct fences and patrol the areas with vehicles without fear of breaking environmental laws under a bill introduced this week again by Rep. Rob Bishop.

The Utah Republican, chairman of the House Natural Resources subcommittee over federal lands, says his bill would allow border agents to secure the border without what he says are barriers — literally physical barriers in some cases — put up by public land managers.

Bishop, who toured the border in Arizona last year and plans to go next week as well, is holding a joint hearing Friday with the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to look at border security along the U.S.-Mexico line.

He says federal lands along the U.S. border are a “haven of criminal activityâ€