Sale of county land approved for construction of border fence

June 24, 2008 - 9:27PM
By Allen Essex, Valley Morning Star
BROWNSVILLE - Despite vehement local opposition to the border fence project, the sale of five pieces of land to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of the fence was approved Tuesday by Cameron County commissioners.



"It's a little under six acres," County Judge Carlos Cascos said. One piece of land is at Los Indios and the other parcels are in the Brownsville area, he said.



The total price for all five parcels was $85,000, County Administrator Pete Sepulveda said.



The border fence has been widely opposed, especially in Brownsville, but county officials have declined to join in a lawsuit attempting to stop construction.



After the Tuesday meeting, Cascos said there are no governmental entities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, except for the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, that have voted to join a lawsuit filed by the Border Coalition.



Calls for Cameron County to renew its expired membership in the Border Coalition as a low-cost way of joining the lawsuit are based on wrong information, Cascos said.



The county would still have to take legal action, not just pay membership dues and automatically be included in the coalition's lawsuit, he said.



"They're (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) going to build the fence," Cascos said. "You know it and I know it."



But the county is still trying to persuade the Corps to enter into an agreement through which the Rio Grande levee would be improved and heightened with the fence built atop the levee, as is being done in Hidalgo County, Cascos said.



The Corps of Engineers is planning to spend $3.5 million a mile to build the fence, he said.



It would cost an estimated $4.5 million to $5 million a mile to build an improved levee with a fence atop it, to make a combined height of 18 feet, Cascos said.



The county would be willing to pay the difference between what the Corps plans to spend for the wall and what the combined project would cost, the judge said.



"We could apply later for reimbursement for our out-of-pocket cost," Cascos said. "It's their responsibility anyway (flood protection)."



But there is a federal deadline of Dec. 31 to finish construction of the fence, Cascos said.



The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected appeals by environmentalists to stop construction, so nothing will stop it now, unless Congress acts, Cascos said.



"Congress gave the secretary (of Homeland Security) way too much power in the first place," the county judge said. "Only Congress can fix it now."



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