Texas officials order contractor on Big Bend area border wall to halt land clearing

From Marfa Public Radio:

The Texas General Land Office on Friday sent cease and desist letters to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and a federal contractor working on the Trump administration’s planned Big Bend area border wall, saying the company “illegally” cleared over a mile of state-owned land for the project in southern Presidio County.

“Texas sovereignty will not be infringed upon by failure to follow established protocol,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a press release announcing the move.

“My office has a proven track record of strong border enforcement, and I applaud efforts to protect our border,” she said. “I am committed to maintaining a positive relationship with CBP, but we will not allow rogue actors who breached our agreement to undermine the incredible work we do for Texas.”

The GLO said border wall contractor Barnard Construction had damaged land the state agency leases to a firm called Trans Pecos Ice LLC in southern Presidio County, where the company owns the sprawling Moody Bennett Ranch that hugs the Rio Grande across Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties. Barnard is the Montana-based firm that has been awarded nearly $2 billion for two sections of the 175-mile border wall project in the region.

Marfa Public Radio previously reported on the ranch’s ties to a co-founder of popular cooler brand YETI.

“Significant grazing acreage was disrupted by this unauthorized activity that has devalued our lease and diminished our ability to generate future revenue for the schoolchildren of Texas,” Buckingham said.

The GLO said in its press release the agency does not allow for any “land modifications, excavations, or construction,” on land it leases without the agency’s consent. Trans Pecos Ice LLC has been notified of the breach of its lease agreement and must take “immediate” steps to prevent “further disturbance,” the agency said.

The GLO also demanded that the cleared land be remediated to its original condition and said it intends to continue to investigate the situation. The agency also hinted it could sue over the matter, saying it has “has reserved all available legal remedies to address unauthorized use or damage to state land.”

Barnard Construction did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move by Buckingham raises questions about whether or not the GLO intends to cooperate with the Trump administration on its Big Bend area border wall plan. In the Big Bend region, the agency owns a significant chunk of land along the border in the direct path of the planned wall. A GLO spokesperson didn’t immediately answer questions about that issue when asked by Marfa Public Radio.

In March, Buckingham attended a border wall-related film screening at the Gage Hotel in the small Big Bend town of Marathon alongside the hotel’s owner and prominent Texas businessman JP Bryan, who has spoken out against the wall plan. In a Facebook post after the event, the hotel thanked Buckingham for “advocating against a physical barrier in the Big Bend region.”

Former Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said in an interview with Marfa Public Radio on Friday that Barnard’s alleged unauthorized construction on state land proves that the border wall project is a “lopsided, unfair operation” disregarding landowner rights.

“ If Barnard can try to roll the General Land Office and the state of Texas with all their lawyers general counsels and all that stuff, just imagine what they’re doing to the private landowner,” Patterson said.

He applauded Buckingham’s actions and said he hopes the situation is a wake up call for state legislators.

“Maybe it will make people wake up in Congress and the folks in Texas that are silent — they oppose but they’re afraid to say that,” Patterson said. “Maybe it’ll make some of those people wake up and just say, ‘enough is enough.’”

Presidio County Commissioner Deirdre Hisler and commissioner candidate Susan Hays — who’s running unopposed in the November election — traveled down Chispa Road and other remote county roads leading to the border in Presidio County on Saturday and documented the clearing work on state-owned land.

Hays estimated that the swath Barnard cleared off of County Road 14, also known as Barrows-Bennett Road, was 100 feet wide and 2 miles long. She said it appeared, according to survey markers on the ground that corresponded with a map county commissioners received from Barnard Construction, to be the exact location of the proposed border wall.

Hisler said the incident, as well as Barnard’s earlier unauthorized road work on county-owned Chispa Road, is leading to “a huge sense of mistrust.”

“ CBP, the federal contractors, DHS, they are disrespecting landowners in Texas on so many levels,” she said. “This is the second infraction in which a contractor just went ahead and did as they damn well please without seeking the appropriate permissions.”

Hisler said the situation doesn’t bode well for ongoing negotiations with the county over a road use agreement for Chispa Road, and that regular calls between county officials and CBP have stopped. Having recently traversed that stretch of the border, Hisler said she has a renewed sense that technology is a better solution than a physical barrier.

“ Not only have they lost my trust because of their violations, I want them to have a conversation about the potential of the use of more technology versus this steel bollard wall,” she said.