Border Fence

We need to work fast on this fence disaster because they are pushing it ahead an egregious assault on the environment. We tried to find out about the project from ALL the elected officials and got nowhere. We found out about the meeting on Jan 17th on about Jan 20th, the one at the convention center. I was told about two dozen people showed up. They also had a meeting in Alpine, but none along the border.

The big disaster about this is that even if they complete the fence, there will still be a ten-mile gap, in the most sensitive areas of Marron valley and the sacred Kuchaama mountain. To close those ten miles will be an unprecedented environmental disaster as the Tijuana river winds back and forth across the border area.

• Main project site: http://www.borderfencenepa.com/

The current proposal is 5.2 miles of new fence, 4.4 miles extending from the fence at Brown Field and 0.8 miles extending the fence from the existing Tecate fence. There is a big gap in the area of Marron Valley Preserve.

HELP GATHER SIGNATURES

Once people find out about the distruction on the border, they are overwhelmingly against it! Please sign the petition and circulate to your friends, then send it in!

• StopTheBorderFence-Leaflet-3up.pdf: Stop the Border Fence leaflets
• StopTheBorderFencePetition.odt: Stop the Border Fence Petition

Marron Valley Preserve.

The Marron Valley Preserve consists of approximately 2,600 acres owned and maintained by the City of San Diego Water Department. This area has been designated “Cornerstone Lands” under the City of San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Subarea Plan because it is considered an essential building block for creating a viable habitat preserve system. Much of the area is currently leased by the city for cattle grazing, however as part of its designation as Cornerstone Lands, the city would place conservation easements on portions of the preserve, which then can be used as a Conservation Land Bank and sold as mitigation credits to public entities, public utility/service providers, and private property owners doing projects in San Diego County and needing mitigation (City of San Diego 1997). A small portion of the proposed primary pedestrian fence, Pack Trail access road, and one staging area would be within the Marron Valley Preserve near Boundary Monument 250. An additional staging area to be used during upgrades of Monument 250 Road would also be located within the Preserve, east of Mine Canyon Wash.

• Satellite Image of Marron Valley showing border. Note that the river crosses the border at least four times and runs exactly along the border line for perhaps a quarter of a mile.

There does not seem to be any discussion of changing Marron Valley Road, however there was suppose to be the document "Monument 250 Road Improvement Project" on this page: http://ecso.swf.usace.army.mil/Pages/Publicreview.cfm

• Photos of the fence are a big help to understand what exists and what is planned. See them here: http://ecso.swf.usace.army.mil/Pages/sdphotos.cfm

Key Problem (submitted by Raymond Lutz to the NEPA process)

This proposed fence would be difficult to cross and will resist the impact of a vehicle. However, the extent of the fence does not fully span the border. There is a gap in the fence between the western portion (4.4 miles) and the eastern portion (0.8 miles) of approximately ten miles. This gap includes some of the most sensitive portions of the border region, including the Marron Valley Preserve and the Tijuana River. There was no analysis of the displacement of the border traffic into the gap, and putting severe pressure on the preserve areas.

The DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT mentioned that "during the 2006 calendar year, the Brown Field Station was responsible for 46,213 apprehensions, or 34 percent of all apprehensions within the USBP San Diego Sector." However, the document did not state how many of these apprehensions were of individuals who had crossed the border in the region of the proposed fence extension, nor did it describe the distribution of crossing traffic volume.

Questions:

1. What is the distribution of border traffic along the border at this time?
2. The reports says 46,213 apprehensions occurred in 2006 by the Brown Field station. Approximately how many individuals are not apprehended? A detailed map showing the crossing areas and approximate volume of traffic along the border (to defined question 1, above) is suggested, along with the approximate volume of individuals who evade apprehension (question 2).
3. Approximately how many individuals are crossing the existing fence, either by climbing it, using ladders, or digging tunnels? Where?
4. Extensive tunnels under the border in Otay and Tecate were discovered recently. Is there any proposed changes to reduce the prevalence of these tunnels?
5. Since there is a large gap of approximately 10 miles between the two fence extensions, what portion of the current undocumented traffic will simply move east (from the A-1 section) and move west (from the A-2 section) and enter in the Marron Valley Preserve and onto the Mt. Kuchama area, considered sacred by local tribes?
6. What is the environmental impact of moving the cross-border traffic into this preserve area, an area used as a Conservation Land Bank and designated “Cornerstone Lands” under the City of San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP) Subarea Plan because it is considered an essential building block for creating a viable habitat preserve system?
7. Very little consideration was given to detection technologies that could be distributed along the border and detect crossers without the extensive impact to the environment of border fence construction and avoiding the negative impact of moving the traffic further east. Would this be a viable alternative?
8. In photos of construction of other portions of the fence (esp. ), construction included a massive amount of grading that appeared to be unnecessary. Will the amount grading and road widening planned for the proposed fence be similar in impact as that shown in those photos? What is the impact on Marron Valley Road? Will this road be used for access to the area, both for construction and to apprehend border-crossers who must now walk around the end of the fence into this area?
9. Rumors have circulated that Marron Valley Road will be widened significantly. Is this true? What is the exact impact to this area and the residential community of Dulzura/Jamul?

Related Info

• Border Field State Park Incident 01 Jun 2008

Summary of articles submitted (Add | All)

This is the most recently published articles

• Mexican Torture Training Raises Questions About U.S. Military/Police Aid -- Laura Carlsen? , Huffington Post? , 2008-07-09
• The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández Lesson Plan — Video Clip -- Kieran Fitzgerald? , Pbs Org? , 2008-07-08
• US Private Contractor Leads Torture Training in Mexico -- Kristin Bricker? , Narco Sphere? , 2008-07-02
• Canyon supporters joining forces to stop fill-in work -- Leslie Berestein? , Union Tribune, 2008-05-16 Backup border fence would be built on dirt
• Southern California Residents Gear Up for New Fight to Stop Secretive Expansion by Military Firm Blackwater -- Amy Goodman, Raymond Lutz, Bob Filner, Democracy Now, 2008-05-02
• Border Tunnel Problem Worsening As Fences Go Up -- Stew Magnuson? , National Defense Magazine? , 2008-05
• Want to Know How to Build a Virtual Fence? Ask Border Patrol -- Stew Magnuson? , National Defense Magazine? , 2008-05
• Blackwater permit faces challenge - Public not informed, San Diego officials say -- Tanya Mannes, Union Tribune, 2008-04-26
• Southbay Leaders: Otay Blackwater Presence Will Complicate Border Relations -- Amy Isackson, Kpbs News, 2008-04-25
• Blackwater-Otay Press Conference (Filner) -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2008-04-25
• Filner Protests Blackwater Development in South County -- Bob Filner, Bob Filner, 2008-04-24 See Also Blackwater Otay
• Blackwater revives mission -- Security contractor plans training center -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2008-04-23
• Power to Build Border Fence Is Above U.S. Law -- Adam Liptak? , New York Times, 2008-04-08
• DHS Exercises Waiver Authority to Expedite Advancements in Border Security -- , Department of Homeland Security, 2008-04-01 Chertoff stretches powers
• Dulzura Deception -- Ernie Grimm? , San Diego Reader, 2008-02-06 [Details the border fence secret project.]
• Border Fence NEPA (Marron Valley Road) -- Robin Brallsford? , COPs, 2008-01-30
• Blackwater Mercenaries on the USA-Mexico Border -- Nancy Conroy, RINF.com, 2007-12-13
• USA-Mexico Anti-Drug Plan Includes ‘Private Contractors’ -- Nancy Conroy, Mexi Data? , 2007-11-12
• Blackwater likely to train Mexican drug warriors - Press release from Mexico -- Antonio Garza? , Mexican Ambassador to the United States, 2007-10-22
• Blackwater admits border security is a goal -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2007-10-12
• Contractors take on expanded role in drug war -- Katherine Mc Intire Peters? , Government Executive? , 2007-09-12 Confirms that Blackwater has contract in counter-narcoterrorism business ($15B)

-- Raymond Lutz - 05 Feb 2008