Border project contractors arrive in Big Bend National Park as Texas lawmakers call for a pause

From Marfa Public Radio:

Texas Democrats in Congress are urging the Trump administration to pause its plan for widespread border security infrastructure inside Big Bend National Park, as a federal contractor working on the project begins to move heavy machinery into the park and local activists warn construction could start at any moment.

On Tuesday, Marfa Public Radio witnessed a bulldozer and multiple trucks bearing the contractor’s name – Southwest Valley Constructors – stationed inside the park near the entrance to Cottonwood Campground, which is situated right next to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The company has been awarded $1.7 billion – one of the largest-ever federal border security contracts – to build a mix of vehicle barriers, surveillance technology and 200 miles of new “patrol roads” across the sprawling West Texas park as part of the Trump administration’s border-wide “Smart Wall” plan. The roads, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has said, could be up to 24 feet wide.

In recent days, local activists have reported seeing the company’s distinct yellow trucks in Big Bend area towns like Terlingua and Alpine.

In an initial statement, a CBP spokesperson told Marfa Public Radio the agency is “in the initial stages of planning and design of this project.” In response to follow-up questions Wednesday, the agency said that “construction crews are onsite re-grading roads that were damaged by recent storms; these roads are required for access to conduct surveys,” though a spokesperson denied that the project itself had officially started.

Last week, most of Texas’ Democratic Congressional delegation penned a letter to Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and other border agency leaders, outlining their concerns about the plan for the park.

The patrol road route is slated to cross Mariscal Mountain, which rises 1,700 feet above the Rio Grande along the park’s southeastern boundary.

In the letter, the lawmakers raised concerns about the possibility of dirt and rock debris or construction-related materials falling into the river and altering its normal flow. The lawmakers said that kind of impact on the river would violate the 1970 Boundary Treaty – an agreement between the U.S. and Mexico outlining rules for protecting the river.

They also worried about the potential use of explosives for the project.

“The terrain of Mariscal Mountain…would require that the new road be dynamited and bulldozed across Mariscal Mountain along and back from the canyon rim, including its highest cliffs,” the lawmakers wrote, saying such a move would cause “irreparable damage to the Rio Grande” and violate the boundary treaty.

CBP said in a statement the agency “has no plans for blasting of Mariscal Mountain in the Big Bend National Park.”

Notably absent from the list of Democrats who signed the Friday letter was U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a South Texas Democrat. Cuellar echoed CBP’s assurances that it would not use explosives on the mountain in a social media post last week, and in a statement later to Marfa Public Radio Friday said he’d received that information after speaking “directly” with the agency.

“I support strong border security, but it must be carried out responsibly and with respect for Big Bend National Park,” Cuellar said. “I will continue monitoring this project closely and push for DHS transparency throughout the process.”

The National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions about the park project. The agency has refused for months to comment on any development related to the border infrastructure plans and has instead referred all questions on the matter to federal border agencies.

Conservation groups and businesses urge Texas GOP leaders to stop the Big Bend plan

Meanwhile on Tuesday, a coalition of national and local advocacy groups and businesses sent a letter to Texas GOP leaders urging them to block or delay the construction plans in the park.

The letter to Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, was signed by national brands like Patagonia and Big Bend area tourism industry businesses. The signers urged the Republican leaders to talk DHS into abandoning plans for physical barriers and roads and to amend federal contracts for the project “to include technology only.”

“Our senators and governor may be the last line of defense standing between access to the Rio Grande and permanent, irreversible damage,” the letter read.

Asked for comment on the letter, Abbott’s press secretary Andrew Mahaleris sent a statement the governor’s office has shared multiple times in recent months, saying Abbott “fully supports using every necessary tool and strategy to aid in the Trump Administration’s deterrence of illegal immigrants attempting to make the dangerous trek across the southern border.”

“Rugged, isolated areas like Big Bend are great opportunities to deploy technology to aid in securing the border,” Mahaleris said.

Former Big Bend superintendent doubts CBP’s promises

Bob Krumenaker, the most recent former superintendent of Big Bend and current chair of the nonprofit Keep Big Bend Wild, said in an interview Monday it would be “physically impossible” to build a road over Mariscal Mountain without using explosives.

“The goal here is obviously to stop the construction of an absolutely senseless road that would all but destroy Mariscal Mountain, which is pretty much the most remote area in Big Bend National Park,” he said.

Krumenaker argues there are “more effective, less destructive, and far less expensive” ways for CPB to meet its goal of reducing illegal traffic.

“There’s no logic,” he said. “ It looks like they’re gonna do all sorts of things, which are almost the most destructive things that they can do for virtually no purpose.”

Krumenaker said he does not expect a response to the letter.

“There is no indication that they are listening,” Krumenaker said. “ It is incredibly disheartening to see the federal government that I worked for for 41 years treat its citizens this way.”

In its statement to Marfa Public Radio, CBP said the agency has been in close communication with the national park service “to ensure that access to the Rio Grande River and hiking trails such as the Mariscal trail remain accessible at the park during and after construction.”

Mary Cantrell contributed reporting from Big Bend National Park.

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