[NYTr] Chertoff Ignores Enviro Laws to Build Border Wall

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via El Paso Times - Oct 22, 2007
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_7250015

Chertoff waives laws to build border fence

The Associated Press

Washington--Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has used his
power to bypass environmental laws so he can restart construction of a
fence on the Arizona-Mexico border. Chertoff's action made public on
Monday allows construction to go forward on about seven miles of fence
in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Naco, Arizona.

Work on nearly two miles of the fence has been suspended since Oct. 10.
On that day, a judge ordered a delay on its construction.

She ruled the federal government had not fully studied 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.