EarthWins

Excerpt from this story from the San Antonio Current:

The Department of Homeland Security waived dozens of environmental laws Monday to ease the way for construction of border barriers and roads through Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park.

DHS’s notice of determination, which goes into effect Tuesday, is the latest action by the federal government that environmentalists read as preparations to construct a physical border wall through the revered West Texas parkland.

Even though the Trump White House has given numerous assurances over the past few months that it doesn’t plan to build a physical wall through the public lands, watchdog groups argue the administration is still waiving laws and earmarking inflated budgets as if preparing to do just that.

Monday was the first time in U.S. history that the federal government has cast aside such a broad slate of environmental laws — including provisions to protect public lands, endangered species and fragile ecologies — in a national park, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The dozens of laws waived by the Trump administration include the National Park Service Organic Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, officials with the organization said.

“The absolute disdain this administration has for our national parks is disgraceful, and now they’re targeting Texas’ most beloved national park,” Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release.