Rio Grande Guardian
September 2, 2012
by Raul De la Cruz
RIO GRANDE CITY, September 2 - U.S. Henry Cuellar says an official from
Customs and Border Protection has told him the agency does not have enough money
right now to build border walls in Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos.
Opposition from the general public to the border wall plans was evident at a
public meeting in Rio Grande City on Wednesday.
“After holding extensive conversations with members of the Starr County
community about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) proposed 14-mile
fence spanning Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos, I extended a formal inquiry
to CBP requesting an update on the status of the proposed fence,” Cuellar said,
in a news release issued Friday afternoon.
“I have received an official response from CBP stating that there are
currently no plans to construct this fence due to a lack of available
funding.”
Cuellar said that as CBP moves forward, he will “continue facilitating
discussions between the agency and the community to help ensure that the
concerns of the community are fully voiced and considered.”
The displeasure in Starr County with the border wall plans was evident at a
public meeting in Rio Grande City on Wednesday evening. The U.S. section of the
International Boundary and Water Commission hosted the meeting to explain why it
has given the go-ahead to CBP’s plans for three new border walls.
“It remains my highest priority as your representative to maintain the
strength of our border and the security of our border communities. I will also
continue fighting against the construction of the fence so this way we can have
the right mixture of personnel and technology to better secure our border,”
Cuellar added, in his news release.
Meanwhile, in other Starr County news, the North American Development Bank
has announced it will hold a $450,000 grant signing agreement next week for a
solid waste facility. Congressman Cuellar is slated to attend the event. It is
scheduled for Tuesday, September 4, at 1:00 pm at the Starr County Courthouse
Annex in Rio Grande City.
The grant signing will involve Starr County Judge Eloy Vera and NADB Deputy
Managing Director Alex Hinojosa. NADBank says the grant will help Starr County
finance part of its recently built solid waste facility, as well as to fund an
operations and maintenance reserve fund and a repair and replacement reserve
fund.
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/bordernews_story.asp?story_no=23
Showing posts with label IBWC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IBWC. Show all posts
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
IBWC says 'yes' to border walls in Los Ebanos, Roma and Rio Grande City
Rio Grande Guardian
July 19, 2012
by Steve Taylor
MERCEDES, July 19 - The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has confirmed it will not object to plans by the Department of Homeland Security to build border walls in Los Ebanos, Rio Grande City and Roma.
Rodolfo Montero, Rio Grande Valley area operations manager for the IBWC, spoke about his agency’s decision at a meeting of the IBWC’s Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum in Mercedes on Wednesday afternoon.
Montero said the U.S. would not be breaking any international treaties if it went ahead with federal plans and built permeable border walls in the floodplains of Los Ebanos, Rio Grande City and Roma over objections from Mexico.
Montero said his agency will hold a public meeting in the Valley soon to discuss the border wall plans.
“Mexico may not want the wall for X or Y reason but we have to a sound, technical, advice for us, the U.S. IBWC, to reject it. We are not breaking the treaty,” Montero said, in response to a reporter’s question.
The United States and Mexico are joint partners in the IBWC. Unlike other border walls, those proposed for Los Ebanos, Roma, and Rio Grande City would be in floodplains with levees.
To the dismay of many border residents and environmentalists, IBWC recently announced it would not oppose plans by the Department of Homeland Security to build an additional 14 miles of walls in Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County, and Roma and Rio Grande City in Starr County.
“These three border wall sections, totaling 14 miles, were not built when other parts of the Rio Grande Valley were walled off because of the serious danger they pose to communities on both sides of the river,” said Scott Nicol, a member of No Border Wall and the Sierra Club’s Borderlands Team, in a recent guest column in the Guardian.
“On the U.S. side they could block the exit of flood water into the Rio Grande, bottling it up in towns and farm land and exacerbating the damage that they suffer.”
Nicol said the new border walls could also deflect flood waters towards Mexico, worsening flooding in Mexican communities. “Deflection might even cause the river to settle into a new channel farther to the south, which would effectively change the location of the border,” he said.
Nicol attended the quarterly Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum on Wednesday. He asked Montero why IBWC had not held any public meetings about its decision on the new border walls. Montero said the issue was addressed by an engineer in the agency’s planning department at the last citizen’s forum in April. This meeting was also attended by IBWC Commissioner Edward Drusina. There were no reporters at that meeting and so there was no news coverage of IBWC’s decision.
Montero also said IBWC will be holding a public meeting in the Valley to talk about the border walls in the near future. He said he wanted to get with Nicol and the Sierra Club to find out a suitable date. Asked by a reporter if the meeting would be in Roma, Rio Grande City or Los Ebanos, Montero said the location has yet to be decided.
Nicol quizzed Montero about the type of border walls that might be built. He said if they are the same as those built in Cameron County they will be susceptible to collecting debris in the event of a hurricane. The walls in Cameron County consisted of six inch wide iron beams with four inches of space between them. Nicol said he wanted to know how it was determined that this type of structure would only prevent ten to 25 percent of flood water passing through during a hurricane.
“From El Paso to San Diego, every time a wall crossed a wash there was obstruction. Debris built up and got up to six feet deep. The wall became impermeable. It became a dam. There is no explanation in the 2011 report for South Texas as to why that wouldn’t happen here,” Nicol said.
Montero responded that Nicol would have to ask the engineers about this at the public meeting.
Responding a question by a reporter about Mexico’s stance on the border wall, Montero said the U.S. and Mexico are sovereign countries. He said the model used in studies conducted by Mexico show a solid, impermeable, wall. The border walls in Los Ebanos, Roma and Rio Grande City will not be impermeable, Montero said. “They have not brought the technical argument. Mexico has to provide sound, technical, advice (why the wall should not be built),” he said.
Former Cameron County Commissioner John Wood is a member of the IBWC Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum. He has been a fierce opponent of border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and has visited locations throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to see the impact they have had.
“My experience is whatever DHS wants, DHS gets. It doesn’t make any difference what IBWC or Fish & Wildlife or local Border Patrol agents want. DHS in Washington are going to get what they want,” Wood said.
“They have already decided they do not have to follow any NEPA requirements, they do not have to follow anything. If that is what they want that is what they are going to do.”
Nonetheless, Wood said he encourages communities opposed to the border walls to continue their resistance. “They (DHS) ought to follow their own guidelines but they don’t.” Wood got a laugh from many in the audience when he said that talking to DHS in Washington is like “talking to the wall.”
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/green_story.asp?story_no=9
July 19, 2012
by Steve Taylor
MERCEDES, July 19 - The U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has confirmed it will not object to plans by the Department of Homeland Security to build border walls in Los Ebanos, Rio Grande City and Roma.
Rodolfo Montero, Rio Grande Valley area operations manager for the IBWC, spoke about his agency’s decision at a meeting of the IBWC’s Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum in Mercedes on Wednesday afternoon.
Montero said the U.S. would not be breaking any international treaties if it went ahead with federal plans and built permeable border walls in the floodplains of Los Ebanos, Rio Grande City and Roma over objections from Mexico.
Montero said his agency will hold a public meeting in the Valley soon to discuss the border wall plans.
“Mexico may not want the wall for X or Y reason but we have to a sound, technical, advice for us, the U.S. IBWC, to reject it. We are not breaking the treaty,” Montero said, in response to a reporter’s question.
The United States and Mexico are joint partners in the IBWC. Unlike other border walls, those proposed for Los Ebanos, Roma, and Rio Grande City would be in floodplains with levees.
To the dismay of many border residents and environmentalists, IBWC recently announced it would not oppose plans by the Department of Homeland Security to build an additional 14 miles of walls in Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County, and Roma and Rio Grande City in Starr County.
“These three border wall sections, totaling 14 miles, were not built when other parts of the Rio Grande Valley were walled off because of the serious danger they pose to communities on both sides of the river,” said Scott Nicol, a member of No Border Wall and the Sierra Club’s Borderlands Team, in a recent guest column in the Guardian.
“On the U.S. side they could block the exit of flood water into the Rio Grande, bottling it up in towns and farm land and exacerbating the damage that they suffer.”
Nicol said the new border walls could also deflect flood waters towards Mexico, worsening flooding in Mexican communities. “Deflection might even cause the river to settle into a new channel farther to the south, which would effectively change the location of the border,” he said.
Nicol attended the quarterly Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum on Wednesday. He asked Montero why IBWC had not held any public meetings about its decision on the new border walls. Montero said the issue was addressed by an engineer in the agency’s planning department at the last citizen’s forum in April. This meeting was also attended by IBWC Commissioner Edward Drusina. There were no reporters at that meeting and so there was no news coverage of IBWC’s decision.
Montero also said IBWC will be holding a public meeting in the Valley to talk about the border walls in the near future. He said he wanted to get with Nicol and the Sierra Club to find out a suitable date. Asked by a reporter if the meeting would be in Roma, Rio Grande City or Los Ebanos, Montero said the location has yet to be decided.
Nicol quizzed Montero about the type of border walls that might be built. He said if they are the same as those built in Cameron County they will be susceptible to collecting debris in the event of a hurricane. The walls in Cameron County consisted of six inch wide iron beams with four inches of space between them. Nicol said he wanted to know how it was determined that this type of structure would only prevent ten to 25 percent of flood water passing through during a hurricane.
“From El Paso to San Diego, every time a wall crossed a wash there was obstruction. Debris built up and got up to six feet deep. The wall became impermeable. It became a dam. There is no explanation in the 2011 report for South Texas as to why that wouldn’t happen here,” Nicol said.
Montero responded that Nicol would have to ask the engineers about this at the public meeting.
Responding a question by a reporter about Mexico’s stance on the border wall, Montero said the U.S. and Mexico are sovereign countries. He said the model used in studies conducted by Mexico show a solid, impermeable, wall. The border walls in Los Ebanos, Roma and Rio Grande City will not be impermeable, Montero said. “They have not brought the technical argument. Mexico has to provide sound, technical, advice (why the wall should not be built),” he said.
Former Cameron County Commissioner John Wood is a member of the IBWC Lower Rio Grande Citizens Forum. He has been a fierce opponent of border walls along the U.S.-Mexico border and has visited locations throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to see the impact they have had.
“My experience is whatever DHS wants, DHS gets. It doesn’t make any difference what IBWC or Fish & Wildlife or local Border Patrol agents want. DHS in Washington are going to get what they want,” Wood said.
“They have already decided they do not have to follow any NEPA requirements, they do not have to follow anything. If that is what they want that is what they are going to do.”
Nonetheless, Wood said he encourages communities opposed to the border walls to continue their resistance. “They (DHS) ought to follow their own guidelines but they don’t.” Wood got a laugh from many in the audience when he said that talking to DHS in Washington is like “talking to the wall.”
http://www.riograndeguardian.com/green_story.asp?story_no=9
Friday, October 14, 2011
Hidalgo County tries again for levee cash
The Monitor
October 12, 2011
by Jared Janes
EDINBURG — Hidalgo County will try once again for federal reimbursement of more than $60 million in levee repairs that commissioners funded using receipts from a 2006 bond issuance.
County officials are planning to travel to Washington, D.C., later this year to ask federal representatives to re-introduce legislation to reimburse the county for its expenses or identify in-kind contributions and other ways to recapture the funds. The county’s congressional representatives have tried twice before to pass legislation to reimburse the county, but the bills have died in committee each time.
County Judge Ramon Garcia said he is hopeful the third time is the charm, despite the apparent intent of federal budget writers to cut costs.
“We’ve got a better shot … if we do something about it,” Garcia said. “If we’re going to wait for the federal government to send us a check, it’s not going to happen.”
Beginning in 2007, Hidalgo County invested slightly more than $60 million into repairing the county’s aging levee system, including about $45 million that was directed toward adding a concrete flood barrier into the Department of Homeland Security’s border fence. The county’s expenditures came after the International Boundary and Water Commission — the binational agency that manages the flood control system along the Rio Grande — told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that it would not certify the levees, putting thousands of Hidalgo County homeowners at risk of having to buy expensive flood insurance premiums.
Garcia said the county’s funds were “well-spent” because they served as a catalyst for a cash infusion through the economic stimulus package that was used to rebuild more than 90 miles of Hidalgo County levees, a project that proved timely last summer when the Rio Grande crested at its highest point in four decades after Hurricane Alex receded.
But the lack of a formal reimbursement agreement between federal representatives and former County Judge J.D. Salinas’ administration has left the county struggling to be paid back after putting the majority of its voter-approved $100 million bond issuance into the federal responsibility of maintaining the levees. The investment shored up flood systems near the affluent Sharyland Plantation neighborhood and the industrial area around the Foreign Trade Zone, but it left other drainage projects included in the bond issuance for flood-prone parts of the county without a direct funding source.
Hidalgo County commissioners asked two lobbying groups — Hollis Rutledge and Associates and Dos Legislative Services — to lead another effort for federal reimbursement. In 2007 and 2009, U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, filed legislation to authorize the IBWC to reimburse state and local governments for expenses on levee improvements.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains flood control systems in the interior of the United States, can reimburse local governments for what they spend. But the IBWC, a little-known federal agency that falls in the oversight of the U.S. Department of State, does not have similar authorization.
Rutledge told commissioners in a presentation Tuesday that he will ask for the legislation to be reintroduced and will also meet with members of the committees where the bills died. He will also explore whether assistance from the North American Development Bank, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other sources could be directed toward county drainage projects that weren’t completed because their share of the bond proceeds went toward the levee system.
“We’re talking about some serious money that we need to recapture from the bond election,” Rutledge said, later adding that it will be a “difficult process” to receive federal reimbursement.
Godfrey Garza, the general manager for the Hidalgo County drainage district, said passing legislation for local drainage projects isn’t unprecedented. A county lobbying effort managed to get its share of the costs for the proposed Raymondville Drain — a massive channel connecting northern Hidalgo County to the Laguna Madre — reduced from 35 percent to 10 percent, saving the county about $70 million over the life of the project.
The county formed a committee in August to identify the county’s pressing drainage and formulate a plan to fund them. Garza said securing federal funding for the committee’s plans would fulfill the same role as federal reimbursement.
“It’s important that we get those dollars back and use them toward the drainage system that we need,” he said. “If we can get state or federal dollars to do those projects, it’s the same thing (as reimbursement).”
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/levee-55596-tries-cash.html
October 12, 2011
by Jared Janes
EDINBURG — Hidalgo County will try once again for federal reimbursement of more than $60 million in levee repairs that commissioners funded using receipts from a 2006 bond issuance.
County officials are planning to travel to Washington, D.C., later this year to ask federal representatives to re-introduce legislation to reimburse the county for its expenses or identify in-kind contributions and other ways to recapture the funds. The county’s congressional representatives have tried twice before to pass legislation to reimburse the county, but the bills have died in committee each time.
County Judge Ramon Garcia said he is hopeful the third time is the charm, despite the apparent intent of federal budget writers to cut costs.
“We’ve got a better shot … if we do something about it,” Garcia said. “If we’re going to wait for the federal government to send us a check, it’s not going to happen.”
Beginning in 2007, Hidalgo County invested slightly more than $60 million into repairing the county’s aging levee system, including about $45 million that was directed toward adding a concrete flood barrier into the Department of Homeland Security’s border fence. The county’s expenditures came after the International Boundary and Water Commission — the binational agency that manages the flood control system along the Rio Grande — told the Federal Emergency Management Agency that it would not certify the levees, putting thousands of Hidalgo County homeowners at risk of having to buy expensive flood insurance premiums.
Garcia said the county’s funds were “well-spent” because they served as a catalyst for a cash infusion through the economic stimulus package that was used to rebuild more than 90 miles of Hidalgo County levees, a project that proved timely last summer when the Rio Grande crested at its highest point in four decades after Hurricane Alex receded.
But the lack of a formal reimbursement agreement between federal representatives and former County Judge J.D. Salinas’ administration has left the county struggling to be paid back after putting the majority of its voter-approved $100 million bond issuance into the federal responsibility of maintaining the levees. The investment shored up flood systems near the affluent Sharyland Plantation neighborhood and the industrial area around the Foreign Trade Zone, but it left other drainage projects included in the bond issuance for flood-prone parts of the county without a direct funding source.
Hidalgo County commissioners asked two lobbying groups — Hollis Rutledge and Associates and Dos Legislative Services — to lead another effort for federal reimbursement. In 2007 and 2009, U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, filed legislation to authorize the IBWC to reimburse state and local governments for expenses on levee improvements.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains flood control systems in the interior of the United States, can reimburse local governments for what they spend. But the IBWC, a little-known federal agency that falls in the oversight of the U.S. Department of State, does not have similar authorization.
Rutledge told commissioners in a presentation Tuesday that he will ask for the legislation to be reintroduced and will also meet with members of the committees where the bills died. He will also explore whether assistance from the North American Development Bank, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other sources could be directed toward county drainage projects that weren’t completed because their share of the bond proceeds went toward the levee system.
“We’re talking about some serious money that we need to recapture from the bond election,” Rutledge said, later adding that it will be a “difficult process” to receive federal reimbursement.
Godfrey Garza, the general manager for the Hidalgo County drainage district, said passing legislation for local drainage projects isn’t unprecedented. A county lobbying effort managed to get its share of the costs for the proposed Raymondville Drain — a massive channel connecting northern Hidalgo County to the Laguna Madre — reduced from 35 percent to 10 percent, saving the county about $70 million over the life of the project.
The county formed a committee in August to identify the county’s pressing drainage and formulate a plan to fund them. Garza said securing federal funding for the committee’s plans would fulfill the same role as federal reimbursement.
“It’s important that we get those dollars back and use them toward the drainage system that we need,” he said. “If we can get state or federal dollars to do those projects, it’s the same thing (as reimbursement).”
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/levee-55596-tries-cash.html
Saturday, September 24, 2011
County Residents Still have Questions About Border Wall
KRGV
September 23, 2011
by Camaron Abundes
LOS EBANOS - People living near the Rio Grande in northern Hidalgo and Starr counties still have many questions about the border wall. The federal government has yet to figure out where it plans to build 14 more miles of border fence.
Ignacio Gutierrez has lived in Los Ebanos for 34 years in the home he built. Over the last six years, he has heard a lot about changes coming, changes-in the shape of a border fence.
"The way of life we live is the way of life. If you put a wall, the problem won't be for us but for the people who want to come here," says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says he's not sure the wall - and the multi-millions of dollars it will cost to build it - in this region is worth the money. He says he does feel the impact of Border Patrol agents constantly keeping watch on this sleepy little town.
Fourteen miles of required fencing is expected to go up in Starr County, but that won't happen until there's an agreement between the International Boundary and Water Commission and the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for DHS says the IBWC has already completed a hydrology study of the land. The study was to help experts understand the impact of the wall on the flood plain. They have yet to sign off on any final plans. That means just about everything about the construction remains in limbo.
Gutierrez doesn't know if the wall will ever come or on which side of the fence he'll find his beloved home. There's just one thing he's certain about.
"Bad people that want to do bad will find a way to keep doing it," says Gutierrez.
He says people who want to enter the United States and move drugs and illegal immigrants will keep looking for ways to do it.
Another thing still up in the air is if the federal government will step in to buy additional lands to build the wall in those areas.
http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/County-Residents-Still-have-Questions-About/_2H9FQI4kUGROMmz4-oi8g.cspx
September 23, 2011
by Camaron Abundes
LOS EBANOS - People living near the Rio Grande in northern Hidalgo and Starr counties still have many questions about the border wall. The federal government has yet to figure out where it plans to build 14 more miles of border fence.
Ignacio Gutierrez has lived in Los Ebanos for 34 years in the home he built. Over the last six years, he has heard a lot about changes coming, changes-in the shape of a border fence.
"The way of life we live is the way of life. If you put a wall, the problem won't be for us but for the people who want to come here," says Gutierrez.
Gutierrez says he's not sure the wall - and the multi-millions of dollars it will cost to build it - in this region is worth the money. He says he does feel the impact of Border Patrol agents constantly keeping watch on this sleepy little town.
Fourteen miles of required fencing is expected to go up in Starr County, but that won't happen until there's an agreement between the International Boundary and Water Commission and the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesperson for DHS says the IBWC has already completed a hydrology study of the land. The study was to help experts understand the impact of the wall on the flood plain. They have yet to sign off on any final plans. That means just about everything about the construction remains in limbo.
Gutierrez doesn't know if the wall will ever come or on which side of the fence he'll find his beloved home. There's just one thing he's certain about.
"Bad people that want to do bad will find a way to keep doing it," says Gutierrez.
He says people who want to enter the United States and move drugs and illegal immigrants will keep looking for ways to do it.
Another thing still up in the air is if the federal government will step in to buy additional lands to build the wall in those areas.
http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/County-Residents-Still-have-Questions-About/_2H9FQI4kUGROMmz4-oi8g.cspx
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Feds plan forum on Paisano Drive border fence
El Paso Times
September 22, 2011
by Daniel Borunda
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials will have a public meeting tonight about the environmental impact of the planned construction of an 18-foot-tall border fence at a historic spot off West Paisano Drive.
The open-house-style meeting by CBP Facilities Management and Engineering will be at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 409 E. Missouri in Downtown El Paso.
The planned fence would be behind Old Fort Bliss and where conquistador Don Juan de Oñate is thought to have crossed the Rio Grande at "El Paso del Rio del Norte" in 1598.
"The project will be constructed in the only remaining section of the border in El Paso that does not have a pedestrian fence installed," CBP materials stated. "The fence will reduce illegal cross-border activities in this heavily travelled area of the city."
CBP said the 0.63-mile fence would connect to steel-mesh fencing already along the Rio Grande to the west near Asarco and to the east to the Downtown. The planned fence and an access road would be built in the spring.
The planned fence, named segment K-1B, would be next to the American Canal on U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission land and some private property. Officials said parts of the fence would be removable to allow access to the canal.
In 2008, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver of many environmental laws to speed up the construction of border fences, CBP officials said.Ê
Critics of the so-called border wall argue that the barrier is costly, conveys a hostile message and pushes illegal immigration to remote and dangerous locations.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18949648
September 22, 2011
by Daniel Borunda
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials will have a public meeting tonight about the environmental impact of the planned construction of an 18-foot-tall border fence at a historic spot off West Paisano Drive.
The open-house-style meeting by CBP Facilities Management and Engineering will be at 6 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express, 409 E. Missouri in Downtown El Paso.
The planned fence would be behind Old Fort Bliss and where conquistador Don Juan de Oñate is thought to have crossed the Rio Grande at "El Paso del Rio del Norte" in 1598.
"The project will be constructed in the only remaining section of the border in El Paso that does not have a pedestrian fence installed," CBP materials stated. "The fence will reduce illegal cross-border activities in this heavily travelled area of the city."
CBP said the 0.63-mile fence would connect to steel-mesh fencing already along the Rio Grande to the west near Asarco and to the east to the Downtown. The planned fence and an access road would be built in the spring.
The planned fence, named segment K-1B, would be next to the American Canal on U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission land and some private property. Officials said parts of the fence would be removable to allow access to the canal.
In 2008, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver of many environmental laws to speed up the construction of border fences, CBP officials said.Ê
Critics of the so-called border wall argue that the barrier is costly, conveys a hostile message and pushes illegal immigration to remote and dangerous locations.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18949648
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Former IBWC counsel alleges abuses affecting safety
Brownsville Herald
August 8, 2010
by Emma Perez-Trevino
While water seeps quietly under the foundation of the two dams in the vast water-management system along the Rio Grande, a whistle-blowing lawyer says he has important information that he hopes will filter to the surface before tragedy occurs.
The dam and levee system provides water for more than 3 million people who live along the Rio Grande.
The two dams – Amistad in Val Verde County and Falcon in Zapata County – are operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, a U.S.-Mexican agency charged with handling issues concerning bodies of water, sanitation, water quality and flood control along the border.
Robert McCarthy, a self-described whistleblower from El Paso who was employed as general counsel for the U.S. section of the IBWC, says he was fired shortly after he made allegations of fraud, waste, abuse and suspected criminal activity within the agency. A judge has backed the firing but McCarthy has appealed the decision and says he is hoping his termination will be declared improper.
In an interview last week with The Brownsville Herald, McCarthy said abuses within the IBWC have compromised operations, including the safety of the dams and the levee system along the Rio Grande.
In the summary of his appeal, McCarthy states: “The agency operates several international wastewater treatment plants, international dams, and other flood-control facilities, all of which are put at greater risk by this tiny cabal (of some employees at IBWC in 2009) that sees no further than their own parochial bureaucratic interests, jeopardizing the health and safety of millions of border residents.”
Representatives of the IBWC have denied wrongdoing and say the agency continues to properly do its work in managing the dams and levees.
THE ALLEGATIONS
McCarthy’s list of complaints about some of the processes within IBWC in 2009 includes claims that certain employees:
* Solicited bids and issued a contract to construct levees with funds received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with architectural designs for which the agency had no contractual rights and which cited state rather than required federal rules and standards. IBWC received $220 million in Recovery Act funds for rehabilitating levees and for flood-control projects.
* Conspired to conceal mismanagement of the $220 million flood-control project funded under the Recovery Act, making false and fraudulent reports to the U.S. Department of State.
* Illegally subsidized a border barrier in Hidalgo County for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with Recovery Act funds intended solely for flood control.
* Chose to build a “cosmetic” levee with $37 million of emergency flood-control funds in Presidio to give the appearance of safety while covering up geophysical reports that the new levee would not withstand another flood.
* Issued an $88 million contract for an expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, Calif., months before Congress appropriated the funds, then knowingly covered up the violation;
“While senior agency officials help themselves to illegal pay raises, spy on their colleagues with remote surveillance equipment, and routinely abuse agency staff, levees crumble, millions of dollars are siphoned off for projects unrelated to the agency’s mission, and millions of border residents are put at ever-greater risk of catastrophic injury to their health and safety,” according to McCarthy’s appeal.
He also maintains that the agency has downplayed deficiencies at Amistad Dam near Del Rio and Falcon Dam near Roma, saying an inspection in 2007 conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and technical advisers to IBWC found that the entire foundation of Amistad Dam needs evaluation due to the potential impact of seepage from naturally occurring sinkholes.
The reports show that inspectors also noted that Falcon Dam’s entire foundation was in need of further assessment, citing a problem with seepage.
“It’s hard to see what, if anything, has been done since then,” McCarthy told the Herald Thursday.
RUTH RESPONDS
McCarthy’s allegations predate the administration of present IBWC Commissioner Edward Drusina, who was appointed in January by President Barack Obama.
McCarthy is appealing his firing by the former IBWC commissioner, La Feria native C. W. “Bill” Ruth.
McCarthy says Ruth fired him on July 31, 2009, three days after he reported his allegations to an array of federal agencies, including the White House. McCarthy had been with the agency just six months. Previously, he had served as a supervisory attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1999 to 2008.
Ruth declined to comment on McCarthy’s termination but did address the issue of sinkholes at Amistad Dam and said studies are under way.
“We have been working on that problem and we’ve been with our technical advisers, the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, and Mexico, and the preliminary report has been made,” he said.
Ruth is referring to a report that a panel of technical advisers issued in November 2009 regarding the condition of Amistad Dam and a plan of action.
“The judgment is that we needed to go forward and do additional studies and that is in progress at Amistad, and we were supposed to have gotten started looking at Falcon Dam this year.
“The judgment was that there was no immediate danger and that the dams had been maintained properly and were in a good state of repair, but that these other problems should be looked at, and they are,” Ruth said.
He said they are monitoring Amistad very closely “to make sure that there isn’t any increase in that flow or that there is no change in the flow being monitored coming from under the foundation.”
“You know, every dam leaks to some extent,” Ruth said. “I mean, that is just a natural occurrence. You will never be able to, in my opinion, completely shut it off. But I mean, whatever needs to be done will be done.”
He said that the longevity of the dams proves that they are of sound structure.
“Most of the dam failures that take place take place when the dam is first put into service,” Ruth said. “If there is a problem developing, you need to address it and that is what we are trying to do now – to determine if there is a problem or not.”
The IBWC has refused to release a copy of the November 2009 report on Amistad Dam to The Brownsville Herald, despite a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act.
IBWC’s FOIA Officer Eric Meza on Thursday declined the request in writing, stating that the report on Amistad Dam is exempted from public disclosure because it falls in the category of “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.
“Such record is privileged as reflecting the deliberative process of government, in addition to containing the guidance of consultants acting in the interest of the agency,” he said, noting that the decision could be appealed.
McCARTHY’S SITUATION
Regarding his firing from the IBWC, McCarthy has filed a petition for review by the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Ruth, the man who fired him, declined to discuss the matter, citing ongoing litigation.
However, in the July 31, 2009, termination letter to McCarthy, obtained by the Herald, Ruth said McCarthy’s conduct had failed to demonstrate his fitness for continued employment. He writes that McCarthy had not supported him or the executive staff in a “constructive and collegial manner” in Ruth’s effort to bring unity within the executive staff.
McCarthy’s petition on his firing already has been heard by merit board Administrative Judge David A. Thayer.
IBWC spokeswoman Sally Spener said in a written statement Friday that Thayer on April 9 denied McCarthy’s request for corrective action.
“Judge Thayer found clear and convincing evidence that the agency would have terminated Mr. McCarthy’s employment regardless of his alleged whistleblower disclosures,” Spener said. “Judge Thayer found that Mr. McCarthy’s employment was terminated after he prepared and distributed numerous factually and legally erroneous memoranda.”
Spener also noted that levee rehabilitation projects in Hidalgo County have been designed to meet federal criteria for the 100-year flood and that all construction contracts issued have been in accordance with federal contracting rules and standards.
In a letter she sent to McCarthy’s lawyers last August, Spener described the agency as one that had undergone a significant and positive transformation. Earlier, in 2005, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Inspector General had issued a scathing report that found the agency under then-Commissioner Arturo Duran to be grossly mismanaged and lacking oversight.
McCarthy believes there can be no changes within IBWC until it comes under the oversight of a larger agency, such as the Department of State, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
In October 2006, the Department of State’s Office of Inspector General wrote that the IBWC “is simply too small, too isolated, and too vulnerable to management abuse to continue without the protection and oversight of a major government department.”
“The Department (of State) was asked in early 2005 to provide its own solution to the oversight problem and could not do so,” the OIG report further noted.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/water-115220-grande-dams.html
August 8, 2010
by Emma Perez-Trevino
While water seeps quietly under the foundation of the two dams in the vast water-management system along the Rio Grande, a whistle-blowing lawyer says he has important information that he hopes will filter to the surface before tragedy occurs.
The dam and levee system provides water for more than 3 million people who live along the Rio Grande.
The two dams – Amistad in Val Verde County and Falcon in Zapata County – are operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, a U.S.-Mexican agency charged with handling issues concerning bodies of water, sanitation, water quality and flood control along the border.
Robert McCarthy, a self-described whistleblower from El Paso who was employed as general counsel for the U.S. section of the IBWC, says he was fired shortly after he made allegations of fraud, waste, abuse and suspected criminal activity within the agency. A judge has backed the firing but McCarthy has appealed the decision and says he is hoping his termination will be declared improper.
In an interview last week with The Brownsville Herald, McCarthy said abuses within the IBWC have compromised operations, including the safety of the dams and the levee system along the Rio Grande.
In the summary of his appeal, McCarthy states: “The agency operates several international wastewater treatment plants, international dams, and other flood-control facilities, all of which are put at greater risk by this tiny cabal (of some employees at IBWC in 2009) that sees no further than their own parochial bureaucratic interests, jeopardizing the health and safety of millions of border residents.”
Representatives of the IBWC have denied wrongdoing and say the agency continues to properly do its work in managing the dams and levees.
THE ALLEGATIONS
McCarthy’s list of complaints about some of the processes within IBWC in 2009 includes claims that certain employees:
* Solicited bids and issued a contract to construct levees with funds received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with architectural designs for which the agency had no contractual rights and which cited state rather than required federal rules and standards. IBWC received $220 million in Recovery Act funds for rehabilitating levees and for flood-control projects.
* Conspired to conceal mismanagement of the $220 million flood-control project funded under the Recovery Act, making false and fraudulent reports to the U.S. Department of State.
* Illegally subsidized a border barrier in Hidalgo County for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with Recovery Act funds intended solely for flood control.
* Chose to build a “cosmetic” levee with $37 million of emergency flood-control funds in Presidio to give the appearance of safety while covering up geophysical reports that the new levee would not withstand another flood.
* Issued an $88 million contract for an expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, Calif., months before Congress appropriated the funds, then knowingly covered up the violation;
“While senior agency officials help themselves to illegal pay raises, spy on their colleagues with remote surveillance equipment, and routinely abuse agency staff, levees crumble, millions of dollars are siphoned off for projects unrelated to the agency’s mission, and millions of border residents are put at ever-greater risk of catastrophic injury to their health and safety,” according to McCarthy’s appeal.
He also maintains that the agency has downplayed deficiencies at Amistad Dam near Del Rio and Falcon Dam near Roma, saying an inspection in 2007 conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and technical advisers to IBWC found that the entire foundation of Amistad Dam needs evaluation due to the potential impact of seepage from naturally occurring sinkholes.
The reports show that inspectors also noted that Falcon Dam’s entire foundation was in need of further assessment, citing a problem with seepage.
“It’s hard to see what, if anything, has been done since then,” McCarthy told the Herald Thursday.
RUTH RESPONDS
McCarthy’s allegations predate the administration of present IBWC Commissioner Edward Drusina, who was appointed in January by President Barack Obama.
McCarthy is appealing his firing by the former IBWC commissioner, La Feria native C. W. “Bill” Ruth.
McCarthy says Ruth fired him on July 31, 2009, three days after he reported his allegations to an array of federal agencies, including the White House. McCarthy had been with the agency just six months. Previously, he had served as a supervisory attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1999 to 2008.
Ruth declined to comment on McCarthy’s termination but did address the issue of sinkholes at Amistad Dam and said studies are under way.
“We have been working on that problem and we’ve been with our technical advisers, the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, and Mexico, and the preliminary report has been made,” he said.
Ruth is referring to a report that a panel of technical advisers issued in November 2009 regarding the condition of Amistad Dam and a plan of action.
“The judgment is that we needed to go forward and do additional studies and that is in progress at Amistad, and we were supposed to have gotten started looking at Falcon Dam this year.
“The judgment was that there was no immediate danger and that the dams had been maintained properly and were in a good state of repair, but that these other problems should be looked at, and they are,” Ruth said.
He said they are monitoring Amistad very closely “to make sure that there isn’t any increase in that flow or that there is no change in the flow being monitored coming from under the foundation.”
“You know, every dam leaks to some extent,” Ruth said. “I mean, that is just a natural occurrence. You will never be able to, in my opinion, completely shut it off. But I mean, whatever needs to be done will be done.”
He said that the longevity of the dams proves that they are of sound structure.
“Most of the dam failures that take place take place when the dam is first put into service,” Ruth said. “If there is a problem developing, you need to address it and that is what we are trying to do now – to determine if there is a problem or not.”
The IBWC has refused to release a copy of the November 2009 report on Amistad Dam to The Brownsville Herald, despite a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act.
IBWC’s FOIA Officer Eric Meza on Thursday declined the request in writing, stating that the report on Amistad Dam is exempted from public disclosure because it falls in the category of “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency.
“Such record is privileged as reflecting the deliberative process of government, in addition to containing the guidance of consultants acting in the interest of the agency,” he said, noting that the decision could be appealed.
McCARTHY’S SITUATION
Regarding his firing from the IBWC, McCarthy has filed a petition for review by the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Ruth, the man who fired him, declined to discuss the matter, citing ongoing litigation.
However, in the July 31, 2009, termination letter to McCarthy, obtained by the Herald, Ruth said McCarthy’s conduct had failed to demonstrate his fitness for continued employment. He writes that McCarthy had not supported him or the executive staff in a “constructive and collegial manner” in Ruth’s effort to bring unity within the executive staff.
McCarthy’s petition on his firing already has been heard by merit board Administrative Judge David A. Thayer.
IBWC spokeswoman Sally Spener said in a written statement Friday that Thayer on April 9 denied McCarthy’s request for corrective action.
“Judge Thayer found clear and convincing evidence that the agency would have terminated Mr. McCarthy’s employment regardless of his alleged whistleblower disclosures,” Spener said. “Judge Thayer found that Mr. McCarthy’s employment was terminated after he prepared and distributed numerous factually and legally erroneous memoranda.”
Spener also noted that levee rehabilitation projects in Hidalgo County have been designed to meet federal criteria for the 100-year flood and that all construction contracts issued have been in accordance with federal contracting rules and standards.
In a letter she sent to McCarthy’s lawyers last August, Spener described the agency as one that had undergone a significant and positive transformation. Earlier, in 2005, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Inspector General had issued a scathing report that found the agency under then-Commissioner Arturo Duran to be grossly mismanaged and lacking oversight.
McCarthy believes there can be no changes within IBWC until it comes under the oversight of a larger agency, such as the Department of State, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
In October 2006, the Department of State’s Office of Inspector General wrote that the IBWC “is simply too small, too isolated, and too vulnerable to management abuse to continue without the protection and oversight of a major government department.”
“The Department (of State) was asked in early 2005 to provide its own solution to the oversight problem and could not do so,” the OIG report further noted.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/water-115220-grande-dams.html
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Hidalgo County levee system cited in IBWC whistleblower complaint
The Monitor
September 25, 2009
by Jared James
Hidalgo County’s levee system is at the center of a complaint filed Thursday by a former staff attorney at the International Boundary and Water Commission who accuses the agency of failing to follow federal protocol on major projects in the county.
Robert McCarthy, a former general counsel for the bi-national commission’s U.S. section — the federal agency that manages the levee system — filed a whistleblower complaint after he was fired in July.
In the 11-page complaint filed with a civil service board that investigates whistleblower complaints, McCarthy alleges wanton abuses of power at the El Paso-based agency, including illegal wiretapping of employees, a conspiracy to obtain unlawful pay raises and other examples of “gross mismanagement” by rogue employees.
Most notably for local interests, he accuses the agency of breaking the law when it contributed funds to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s levee-wall in Hidalgo County and for using county-owned engineering plans for repair work.
McCarthy, who worked at the IBWC for six months, said the obscure federal agency operates with little oversight from the U.S. Department of State.
“(The IBWC) feel nobody supervises them and they can do whatever they want,” McCarthy said in an interview Friday. “They’re an independent agency and nobody ever calls them out.”
Agency spokeswoman Sally Spener declined to comment on McCarthy’s case or his allegations, explaining they are part of a personnel matter that is under review.
The complaint does not prohibit the IBWC from continuing work on the county’s levees through economic stimulus package funding, she said.
McCarthy said he was fired on July 31, three days after he disclosed fraud, waste and abuse at the agency to four federal oversight agencies.
In a termination letter, U.S. IBWC Commissioner Bill Ruth said McCarthy was fired for failing to act in a constructive and collegial manner with the rest of the staff.
McCarthy’s whistleblower complaint says the agency violated a federal statute prohibiting cost-sharing between two federal agencies when the IBWC contributed $1.75 million in funds for a section of the levee-wall near the Hidalgo pump house.
Cost-sharing with Homeland Security — the federal agency tasked with building the border wall — created substantial risk “because the agency (IBWC) was funded to build flood control barriers, not border barriers,” according to the complaint.
McCarthy also alleges the agency solicited bids for a levee contract under the economic stimulus package using engineering plans prepared for Hidalgo County.
Proceeding based on designs prepared to state regulations for Hidalgo County — instead of to federal regulations — exposes the agency to the risk of design failures or contractual disputes, he said.
Godfrey Garza, the general manager for Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1, said plans for a levee section near Granjeno were turned over to the IBWC with the county’s full support for the agency’s work.
Acting on McCarthy’s behalf, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility — a Washington, D.C.-based group that works to uphold environmental laws — filed the whistleblower retaliation complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board, demanding his immediate reinstatement.
The board will hear the case within 120 days, said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. The State Department Office of Inspector General is investigating the claims McCarthy made before he was fired.
Last month, a news release from PEER labeled the IBWC the worst agency in the federal government, citing a 2005 State Department Office of Inspector General report that concluded “internal management problems have engulfed (the agency), threatening its essential responsibilities for flood control and water management in the American Southwest.”
Spener, the IBWC spokeswoman, responded in writing that problems identified in the 4-year-old report were cleaned up after the White House asked a former commissioner to step down following its release.
Arturo Duran left the post in late August 2005 after serving as commissioner since the prior year.
He confirmed to various news outlets that the White House had asked him to resign in the wake of a scathing report from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General. The report accused Duran of mismanagement and questioned his financial and personnel decisions, saying the agency was consequently in “disarray.”
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/county-31031-hidalgo-levee.html
September 25, 2009
by Jared James
Hidalgo County’s levee system is at the center of a complaint filed Thursday by a former staff attorney at the International Boundary and Water Commission who accuses the agency of failing to follow federal protocol on major projects in the county.
Robert McCarthy, a former general counsel for the bi-national commission’s U.S. section — the federal agency that manages the levee system — filed a whistleblower complaint after he was fired in July.
In the 11-page complaint filed with a civil service board that investigates whistleblower complaints, McCarthy alleges wanton abuses of power at the El Paso-based agency, including illegal wiretapping of employees, a conspiracy to obtain unlawful pay raises and other examples of “gross mismanagement” by rogue employees.
Most notably for local interests, he accuses the agency of breaking the law when it contributed funds to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s levee-wall in Hidalgo County and for using county-owned engineering plans for repair work.
McCarthy, who worked at the IBWC for six months, said the obscure federal agency operates with little oversight from the U.S. Department of State.
“(The IBWC) feel nobody supervises them and they can do whatever they want,” McCarthy said in an interview Friday. “They’re an independent agency and nobody ever calls them out.”
Agency spokeswoman Sally Spener declined to comment on McCarthy’s case or his allegations, explaining they are part of a personnel matter that is under review.
The complaint does not prohibit the IBWC from continuing work on the county’s levees through economic stimulus package funding, she said.
McCarthy said he was fired on July 31, three days after he disclosed fraud, waste and abuse at the agency to four federal oversight agencies.
In a termination letter, U.S. IBWC Commissioner Bill Ruth said McCarthy was fired for failing to act in a constructive and collegial manner with the rest of the staff.
McCarthy’s whistleblower complaint says the agency violated a federal statute prohibiting cost-sharing between two federal agencies when the IBWC contributed $1.75 million in funds for a section of the levee-wall near the Hidalgo pump house.
Cost-sharing with Homeland Security — the federal agency tasked with building the border wall — created substantial risk “because the agency (IBWC) was funded to build flood control barriers, not border barriers,” according to the complaint.
McCarthy also alleges the agency solicited bids for a levee contract under the economic stimulus package using engineering plans prepared for Hidalgo County.
Proceeding based on designs prepared to state regulations for Hidalgo County — instead of to federal regulations — exposes the agency to the risk of design failures or contractual disputes, he said.
Godfrey Garza, the general manager for Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1, said plans for a levee section near Granjeno were turned over to the IBWC with the county’s full support for the agency’s work.
Acting on McCarthy’s behalf, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility — a Washington, D.C.-based group that works to uphold environmental laws — filed the whistleblower retaliation complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board, demanding his immediate reinstatement.
The board will hear the case within 120 days, said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. The State Department Office of Inspector General is investigating the claims McCarthy made before he was fired.
Last month, a news release from PEER labeled the IBWC the worst agency in the federal government, citing a 2005 State Department Office of Inspector General report that concluded “internal management problems have engulfed (the agency), threatening its essential responsibilities for flood control and water management in the American Southwest.”
Spener, the IBWC spokeswoman, responded in writing that problems identified in the 4-year-old report were cleaned up after the White House asked a former commissioner to step down following its release.
Arturo Duran left the post in late August 2005 after serving as commissioner since the prior year.
He confirmed to various news outlets that the White House had asked him to resign in the wake of a scathing report from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General. The report accused Duran of mismanagement and questioned his financial and personnel decisions, saying the agency was consequently in “disarray.”
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/county-31031-hidalgo-levee.html
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fired lawyer complains of border agency misconduct
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
September 24, 2009
by Michelle Roberts
September 24, 2009
by Michelle Roberts
SAN ANTONIO — A former lawyer for the little-known federal agency that helps control the flow of the Rio Grande and the U.S. boundary with Mexico said Thursday that he was fired after complaining of gross mismanagement, including funds misappropriation and repair of levees that the agency knew would be useless.
Robert McCarthy was fired as general counsel from the International Boundary and Water Commission in July, days after he disclosed his concerns to federal auditing agencies. He complained to the auditing agency after IBWC leadership ignored several written opinions, he said.
"I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. I did put several opinions in writing as these issues were surfacing and never received any positive response," said McCarthy.
Commissioner C.W. "Bill" Ruth, appointed by President George W. Bush in November after the previous commissioner died in a plane crash, cited those opinions in his termination letter, accusing McCarthy of "failure to support me or other members of the executive staff in a constructive or collegial manner."
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that advocates for government employees, filed a whistle-blower retaliation complaint Thursday on behalf of McCarthy with the Merit Systems Protection Board. An administrative judge will hear the case and make a recommendation to the board on whether McCarthy should get his job back.
IBWC spokeswoman Sally Spener said the agency, headquartered in El Paso, could not comment on McCarthy's case or allegations because they were part of a personnel matter and under litigation.
McCarthy, who spent eight years as an Interior Department lawyer before joining the IBWC in January, said he was ordered to sign a cost-sharing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security on the construction of levees that would help settle a fight over the border fence in the Rio Grande Valley. But McCarthy felt the arrangement violated federal law prohibiting one agency from subsidizing the purposes of another agency.
In the case of misappropriated funds, "an employee who doesn't report that is just as liable as one who approves it," he said.
McCarthy said he was also concerned about the agency's decision to repair levees in Presidio, Texas, the site of flooding last fall. The agency had consultant reports saying the levees couldn't be repaired and will be undermined by flooding again, but went ahead anyway.
"I call that a 'cosmetic levee.' It looks like they've done something but they haven't," he said.
McCarthy's personnel complaint filed with the merit system board paints the IBWC as an agency plagued by rogue employees and lax standards. Among the other accusations:
_ An executive staff member wiretapped a group of employees after he didn't get a job he wanted in the agency.
_ Several employees received unlawful salary increases over the objections of personnel staff.
_ A pair of executive staff members made false anonymous reports to the State Department about an engineer who attempted to implement changes at the agency.
_ A multimillion-dollar levee contract was solicited under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act without using federal standards, instead plugging in specifications from a local project that may not comply with federal rules.
IBWC, a binational agency responsible for maintaining the international border, is part of the State Department for funding purposes but is supposed to answer directly to the president.
Based on McCarthy's allegations, the General Accounting Office has an investigation pending and is coordinating with the State Department Office of Inspector General.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6635382.html#Tuesday, June 2, 2009
City Commission OKs border fence accord
Brownsville Herald
June 2, 2009
by Emma Perez-Trevino
June 2, 2009
by Emma Perez-Trevino
Between a rock and a hard place - that's how the City Commission found itself Tuesday regarding the border fence between Brownsville and Matamoros that will be constructed.
There were two immediate options: either approve an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as majority members on the commission advanced or fight to the end as the mayor urged.
Majority commissioners Leo Garza, Ricardo Longoria, Edward C. Camarillo and Anthony P. Troiani prevailed, approving the agreement.
Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. and Commissioner Carlos A. Cisneros voted against the agreement. Commissioner Charlie Atkinson abstained.
The majority argued that the agreement allowing DHS the right of possession to 15.919 acres of city land, which DHS already has title to, provides the city with the ability to one day develop downtown and to complete the project called the East Loop, which would tie south Brownsville to the Port of Brownsville.
The agreement provides that DHS will build what the parties call "temporary" fence segments on the East Loop levee and between the Gateway International Bridge and the B&M International Bridge.
The temporary fence segments would be removed when the city constructs in their place a replacement barrier and relocates the East Loop levee. The relocation of the levee already is a component of the East Loop project.
Ahumada contended that the cost of the replacement levee and barrier is not even known, but predicted that the cost would be prohibitive. "I think the temporary wall is going to be a permanent wall," the mayor said.
"I believe we should fight DHS on the right of possession and hopefully come out with something better than what is being proposed," Ahumada said.
Troiani, through questions posed to counsel Charlie Willette, contended that DHS already has title to the property and that not entering into an agreement placed the city in the position that it could never recoup any of the land required to continue with its economic development plans.
Troiani's comments, however, also showed that he is very concerned that the agreement might not be included in the federal court's order granting DHS possession of the property.
Willette hinted that it might not be possible and that if there were any disputes in the future, these might have to be resolved in a court of claims rather than in federal district court. Willette predicted that DHS would probably object to attaching the agreement to the order of possession, but said that he would try to convince the federal court, where condemnation proceedings are under way, to allow this.
Troiani wanted the attachment of the agreement to be a condition of the agreement but Garza said it would be too risky.
Asked by Ahumada if he (Willette) trusts the federal government to keep its word, Willette summed it up: "I don't think we have a lot of choice."
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/agreement-98637-city-commission.htmlTuesday, January 13, 2009
No More Hope: DHS issues notice to proceed with border fence at park
Brownsville Herald
January 13, 2009
It looks like hope has run out for Hope Park.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice to proceed with the construction of the border fence that includes Hope Park near the downtown area.
Local officials were notified Tuesday that a notice to proceed with the border fence project had been issued.
The fence will run from an extension of Palm Boulevard to the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course, which is off River Levee Drive, and will be in the areas of Hope Park near downtown Brownsville and the Gateway International Bridge, the notice reads.
Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said he didn't believe the land involved was county owned. He has often said that the DHS was going to move forward with the fence in the face of public opposition. Although the county had offered an alternative to the fence's construction plan, the DHS rejected its levee-fence proposal.
Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. could not be reached for comment.
Although no actual construction date has been scheduled, the cleaning of the area where the fence will be built is expected to begin soon, the notice reads.
No other information was immediately available.
Lloyd Easterling, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, could not be reached for comment.
The DHS news comes one day after Brownsville city officials agreed to join an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff's waiver of state and local laws in order to build a fence along the border.
The notice is similar to one released two weeks ago in which county officials were notified that site preparations were to begin in eight areas of the county.
These areas include Nemo Road and Weaver's Mountain near Harlingen; west and east Los Indios; La Paloma; Ho chi Minh-Estero, also near Harlingen; and the Riverbend Resort Water Tower and the Public Utilities Board fence line in Brownsville.
Last week, huge dump trucks could be seen traveling to and from the river levee near the Riverbend Resort Water Tower on Highway 281, where 1.6 miles of the fencing will be constructed.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/fence_93633___article.html/hope_notice.html
January 13, 2009
It looks like hope has run out for Hope Park.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice to proceed with the construction of the border fence that includes Hope Park near the downtown area.
Local officials were notified Tuesday that a notice to proceed with the border fence project had been issued.
The fence will run from an extension of Palm Boulevard to the Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course, which is off River Levee Drive, and will be in the areas of Hope Park near downtown Brownsville and the Gateway International Bridge, the notice reads.
Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said he didn't believe the land involved was county owned. He has often said that the DHS was going to move forward with the fence in the face of public opposition. Although the county had offered an alternative to the fence's construction plan, the DHS rejected its levee-fence proposal.
Brownsville Mayor Pat M. Ahumada Jr. could not be reached for comment.
Although no actual construction date has been scheduled, the cleaning of the area where the fence will be built is expected to begin soon, the notice reads.
No other information was immediately available.
Lloyd Easterling, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, could not be reached for comment.
The DHS news comes one day after Brownsville city officials agreed to join an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff's waiver of state and local laws in order to build a fence along the border.
The notice is similar to one released two weeks ago in which county officials were notified that site preparations were to begin in eight areas of the county.
These areas include Nemo Road and Weaver's Mountain near Harlingen; west and east Los Indios; La Paloma; Ho chi Minh-Estero, also near Harlingen; and the Riverbend Resort Water Tower and the Public Utilities Board fence line in Brownsville.
Last week, huge dump trucks could be seen traveling to and from the river levee near the Riverbend Resort Water Tower on Highway 281, where 1.6 miles of the fencing will be constructed.
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/fence_93633___article.html/hope_notice.html
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Protester stops work on border fence
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
December 17, 2008
EL PASO, Texas — A 55-year-old Army veteran hunkered down in front of construction crews who were building the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, halting work for about eight hours before she was arrested.
Judy Ackerman, one of about a dozen people at a peaceful protest east of El Paso on Wednesday, was handcuffed by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after several hours of figuring out which authority was responsible for removing her.
Ackerman was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass, a state misdemeanor. Ed Hernandez, one of three local attorneys who volunteered Wednesday to defend Ackerman, said the retired Army sergeant major was released from jail late Wednesday afternoon after being issued a summons to appear in court.
Work on the fence resumed immediately after Ackerman was led away. Before her arrest, the white-haired woman sporting a reflective vest and hard had cheerfully chatted with authorities. About 20 workers were milling around the site, leaning against heavy equipment and dump trucks and taking pictures of her with their cell phones.
"They have a job to do, but today their job is to take a break," said Ackerman, who spent 26 years in the Army.
Ackerman crossed a canal before workers arrived and took up a position on a levee where large steel poles were being erected. The levee is in a desolate area several miles east of downtown El Paso, near the 370-acre Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.
"They have this wonderful park here, and the wall is messing it up," said Ackerman, who said she's never been arrested before. "This is life. The river is life. But not the wall; the wall is death."
Ackerman was on land maintained by the International Boundary and Water Commission land, the binational agency that maintains the boundary between Mexico and the U.S.
Al Riera, the principal engineer for the IBWC, said officials there were notified about her presence early Wednesday and told to contact authorities to have her removed. Officials spent several hours trying to figure out the proper authority. Riera said this is the first such protest on IBWC land.
Government officials said Tuesday that 500 miles of fencing has been built along the Southwest border.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6170233.html#
December 17, 2008
EL PASO, Texas — A 55-year-old Army veteran hunkered down in front of construction crews who were building the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border Wednesday, halting work for about eight hours before she was arrested.
Judy Ackerman, one of about a dozen people at a peaceful protest east of El Paso on Wednesday, was handcuffed by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after several hours of figuring out which authority was responsible for removing her.
Ackerman was arrested on a charge of criminal trespass, a state misdemeanor. Ed Hernandez, one of three local attorneys who volunteered Wednesday to defend Ackerman, said the retired Army sergeant major was released from jail late Wednesday afternoon after being issued a summons to appear in court.
Work on the fence resumed immediately after Ackerman was led away. Before her arrest, the white-haired woman sporting a reflective vest and hard had cheerfully chatted with authorities. About 20 workers were milling around the site, leaning against heavy equipment and dump trucks and taking pictures of her with their cell phones.
"They have a job to do, but today their job is to take a break," said Ackerman, who spent 26 years in the Army.
Ackerman crossed a canal before workers arrived and took up a position on a levee where large steel poles were being erected. The levee is in a desolate area several miles east of downtown El Paso, near the 370-acre Rio Bosque Wetlands Park.
"They have this wonderful park here, and the wall is messing it up," said Ackerman, who said she's never been arrested before. "This is life. The river is life. But not the wall; the wall is death."
Ackerman was on land maintained by the International Boundary and Water Commission land, the binational agency that maintains the boundary between Mexico and the U.S.
Al Riera, the principal engineer for the IBWC, said officials there were notified about her presence early Wednesday and told to contact authorities to have her removed. Officials spent several hours trying to figure out the proper authority. Riera said this is the first such protest on IBWC land.
Government officials said Tuesday that 500 miles of fencing has been built along the Southwest border.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6170233.html#
Friday, November 7, 2008
Border Patrol halts building of 3 border walls
Associated Press / Houston Chronicle
November 7, 2008
DALLAS — Homeland Security officials have decided to halt building three segments of the border fence in the Rio Grande Valley for this year, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said late Friday.
Concerns over the structure leading to more debris in the river and increasing the potential for flooding caused U.S. Customs and Border Protection to defer plans. The hydraulic issues of building in the river's flood plain had been highlighted by the International Boundary and Water Commission, Cuellar said.
The segments in Rio Grande City and Roma in Starr County and Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County add up to just over 14 miles, Cuellar said.
"I think the Valley will receive this as great news," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security planned to build "movable" fencing in the three areas, where communities abut the river. Los Ebanos, best-known for its historic hand-pulled ferry across the Rio Grande, would have been the most affected.
By stopping the project in those segments for now, Cuellar hopes it will allow for reassessment.
"We're hoping that this will allow us to work with the next president to find ... alternative methods for security," he said.
Questions about the border fence were referred to a CBP spokeswoman, who did not immediately respond to calls for comment Friday.
Cuellar, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said his office learned of CBP's decision Friday afternoon.
The No Border Wall Coalition praised the decision to stop construction, saying already-built portions of the project have destabilized flood control levees in South Texas.
"It is our hope that this will be made permanent by the new administration," the group said in a statement.
The government has built hundreds of miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congress had called for 670 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to be completed by the end of the year. But recently, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said having all the fence sections under contract by the end of the year is more likely.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6101349.html
November 7, 2008
DALLAS — Homeland Security officials have decided to halt building three segments of the border fence in the Rio Grande Valley for this year, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said late Friday.
Concerns over the structure leading to more debris in the river and increasing the potential for flooding caused U.S. Customs and Border Protection to defer plans. The hydraulic issues of building in the river's flood plain had been highlighted by the International Boundary and Water Commission, Cuellar said.
The segments in Rio Grande City and Roma in Starr County and Los Ebanos in Hidalgo County add up to just over 14 miles, Cuellar said.
"I think the Valley will receive this as great news," he said.
The Department of Homeland Security planned to build "movable" fencing in the three areas, where communities abut the river. Los Ebanos, best-known for its historic hand-pulled ferry across the Rio Grande, would have been the most affected.
By stopping the project in those segments for now, Cuellar hopes it will allow for reassessment.
"We're hoping that this will allow us to work with the next president to find ... alternative methods for security," he said.
Questions about the border fence were referred to a CBP spokeswoman, who did not immediately respond to calls for comment Friday.
Cuellar, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said his office learned of CBP's decision Friday afternoon.
The No Border Wall Coalition praised the decision to stop construction, saying already-built portions of the project have destabilized flood control levees in South Texas.
"It is our hope that this will be made permanent by the new administration," the group said in a statement.
The government has built hundreds of miles of pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congress had called for 670 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border to be completed by the end of the year. But recently, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said having all the fence sections under contract by the end of the year is more likely.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6101349.html
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Heavy rains close Nogales foot crossing
Arizona Daily Star
August 13, 2008
Heavy rains fell near the U.S.-Mexican border in Nogales on Tuesday afternoon, forcing U.S. officials to close a pedestrian gate and temporarily trapping three people inside a small building on the Mexican side of the border.
At around 4 p.m., rains fell, and water rose to 2 to 3 feet high in Mexico on the other side of the border wall, said Brian Levin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
Three people were trapped in the small building at the Morley pedestrian gate, just east of the downtown Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry, Levin said. U.S. officials geared up to perform the rescue, but Mexican officials were able to rescue them first, he said.
The rain stopped before and the water drained away before 6 p.m., Levin said. The Morley gate, used by pedestrians to cross the border, remained closed though, he said.
The Dennis DeConcini port was not damaged and continued to operate as normal throughout the rain, he said.
The severity of the damage caused by this storm wasn't available Tuesday evening, but Levin said it wasn't nearly as bad as the July 12 flooding that caused an estimated $8 million in damage to Nogales, Sonora.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/252557
August 13, 2008
Heavy rains fell near the U.S.-Mexican border in Nogales on Tuesday afternoon, forcing U.S. officials to close a pedestrian gate and temporarily trapping three people inside a small building on the Mexican side of the border.
At around 4 p.m., rains fell, and water rose to 2 to 3 feet high in Mexico on the other side of the border wall, said Brian Levin, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
Three people were trapped in the small building at the Morley pedestrian gate, just east of the downtown Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry, Levin said. U.S. officials geared up to perform the rescue, but Mexican officials were able to rescue them first, he said.
The rain stopped before and the water drained away before 6 p.m., Levin said. The Morley gate, used by pedestrians to cross the border, remained closed though, he said.
The Dennis DeConcini port was not damaged and continued to operate as normal throughout the rain, he said.
The severity of the damage caused by this storm wasn't available Tuesday evening, but Levin said it wasn't nearly as bad as the July 12 flooding that caused an estimated $8 million in damage to Nogales, Sonora.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/252557
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
U.S. will have to tear down tunnel barrier in Nogales
Arizona Daily Star
August 9 2008
By Brady McCombs
U.S. officials have determined that part of a barrier constructed by the Border Patrol in a storm-water tunnel beneath Nogales is in Mexico — and must be torn down.
Representatives from the U.S. and Mexican sections of the International Boundary and Water Commission conducted a pair of surveys in the past two weeks and determined that nearly 8 feet of the 20-foot concrete barrier is in Mexico, said Sally Spener, U.S. spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The commission informed officials with Customs and Border Protection of their findings and told them they must remove the barrier, and a metal gate that sits right behind it, because part of it also is on Mexican soil, Spener said. The agency agreed to remove the barrier and gate, she said.
Border Patrol officials said it was an honest mistake.
"We believed we had built in the United States," said Gustavo Soto, spokesman in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. "If we built any portion of it in Mexico, then obviously we are going to remove it."
The determination doesn't completely close the case of the barrier — the commission still must weigh in on whether it agrees the concrete barrier is to blame for flooding July 12 that caused an estimated $8 million in damage in Nogales, Sonora.
Officials with the Mexican section of the commission say technical data show the barrier reduced the flow of storm water through the tunnel by 40 percent, serving as a bottleneck and causing the water to back up on the Mexican side of the channel and pressure the aging drainage structure, which broke.
Mexico submitted a formal complaint against the United States for flood damage, asking for repairs or money.
The U.S. section of the commission has not finished a hydrological analysis, which is evaluating the extent to which the barrier blocked water flow, Spener said. While in Nogales, Ariz., last month to assess the situation, the commissioner of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, Carlos Marin, said a large pipeline running across the tunnel on the Mexican side might have also inhibited water flow.
The concrete barrier was 5 feet tall until being reduced to 3 1/2 feet shortly after the July 12 floods at the urging of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Ariz., officials. At the time, Border Patrol officials denied the requests to remove the barrier completely.
Now, they don't have a choice.
There is no timeline for the removal other than in the near future, Spener said. Soto said it shouldn't take officials too long to remove the structure.
The agency must also remove a metal gate that sits just north of the barrier and reaches the ceiling of the tunnel.
The concrete barrier and gate were built to prevent smugglers from sneaking through the tunnel and into the United States, a frequent occurrence.
A second metal gate that sits farther north in the tunnel will stay up. The Border Patrol will likely discuss constructing the second gate again, this time on U.S. soil, Soto said.
The two-gate system allows the agency to maintain a barrier even if one of the gates is damaged or breached, he said. The agency also has a camera system in the tunnel.
The Border Patrol built the new concrete barrier in the past year without notifying the commission, Spener said.
The commission requests that border agencies send it the plans for any work that could affect storm drainage.
Soto couldn't explain how or why the infrastructure division didn't notify the commission.
The location of the barrier came into question in the days after the July 12 flooding when mayor of Nogales, Sonora, Marco Antonio Martínez Dabdoub, and other officials were touring the tunnel and noticed the barrier appeared to be in Mexico.
In response, the boundary commission sent a delegation to Nogales on July 24 to determine whether the structure was on Mexican soil. It ended up taking officials until this week because there were not definitive markings for the international line inside the tunnel, Spener said.
"Because it was underground, it was a little trickier than perhaps we had first anticipated," Spener said.
The border runs diagonally through the tunnel and was marked by an unofficial painted yellow line on the floor. To ensure the border is properly marked, the commission plans on installing a permanent demarcation feature, Spener said.
In the meantime, officials drilled from the surface into the tunnel at two points and left brightly-painted drill bits that look like rebar. They might put a plaque, like those at the ports of entry, inside the tunnel to mark the line, she said.
The U.S. State Department is aware of the findings, but it was too late in the day Friday to find out what actions might be taken because of the findings, said spokeswoman Sara Mangiaracina. She issued this statement:
"We support the efforts of the IBWC (boundary commission) to resolve this. The IBWC is particularly well placed for helping to resolve this issue in a constructive manner."
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/251978.php
August 9 2008
By Brady McCombs
U.S. officials have determined that part of a barrier constructed by the Border Patrol in a storm-water tunnel beneath Nogales is in Mexico — and must be torn down.
Representatives from the U.S. and Mexican sections of the International Boundary and Water Commission conducted a pair of surveys in the past two weeks and determined that nearly 8 feet of the 20-foot concrete barrier is in Mexico, said Sally Spener, U.S. spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The commission informed officials with Customs and Border Protection of their findings and told them they must remove the barrier, and a metal gate that sits right behind it, because part of it also is on Mexican soil, Spener said. The agency agreed to remove the barrier and gate, she said.
Border Patrol officials said it was an honest mistake.
"We believed we had built in the United States," said Gustavo Soto, spokesman in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector. "If we built any portion of it in Mexico, then obviously we are going to remove it."
The determination doesn't completely close the case of the barrier — the commission still must weigh in on whether it agrees the concrete barrier is to blame for flooding July 12 that caused an estimated $8 million in damage in Nogales, Sonora.
Officials with the Mexican section of the commission say technical data show the barrier reduced the flow of storm water through the tunnel by 40 percent, serving as a bottleneck and causing the water to back up on the Mexican side of the channel and pressure the aging drainage structure, which broke.
Mexico submitted a formal complaint against the United States for flood damage, asking for repairs or money.
The U.S. section of the commission has not finished a hydrological analysis, which is evaluating the extent to which the barrier blocked water flow, Spener said. While in Nogales, Ariz., last month to assess the situation, the commissioner of the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, Carlos Marin, said a large pipeline running across the tunnel on the Mexican side might have also inhibited water flow.
The concrete barrier was 5 feet tall until being reduced to 3 1/2 feet shortly after the July 12 floods at the urging of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Ariz., officials. At the time, Border Patrol officials denied the requests to remove the barrier completely.
Now, they don't have a choice.
There is no timeline for the removal other than in the near future, Spener said. Soto said it shouldn't take officials too long to remove the structure.
The agency must also remove a metal gate that sits just north of the barrier and reaches the ceiling of the tunnel.
The concrete barrier and gate were built to prevent smugglers from sneaking through the tunnel and into the United States, a frequent occurrence.
A second metal gate that sits farther north in the tunnel will stay up. The Border Patrol will likely discuss constructing the second gate again, this time on U.S. soil, Soto said.
The two-gate system allows the agency to maintain a barrier even if one of the gates is damaged or breached, he said. The agency also has a camera system in the tunnel.
The Border Patrol built the new concrete barrier in the past year without notifying the commission, Spener said.
The commission requests that border agencies send it the plans for any work that could affect storm drainage.
Soto couldn't explain how or why the infrastructure division didn't notify the commission.
The location of the barrier came into question in the days after the July 12 flooding when mayor of Nogales, Sonora, Marco Antonio Martínez Dabdoub, and other officials were touring the tunnel and noticed the barrier appeared to be in Mexico.
In response, the boundary commission sent a delegation to Nogales on July 24 to determine whether the structure was on Mexican soil. It ended up taking officials until this week because there were not definitive markings for the international line inside the tunnel, Spener said.
"Because it was underground, it was a little trickier than perhaps we had first anticipated," Spener said.
The border runs diagonally through the tunnel and was marked by an unofficial painted yellow line on the floor. To ensure the border is properly marked, the commission plans on installing a permanent demarcation feature, Spener said.
In the meantime, officials drilled from the surface into the tunnel at two points and left brightly-painted drill bits that look like rebar. They might put a plaque, like those at the ports of entry, inside the tunnel to mark the line, she said.
The U.S. State Department is aware of the findings, but it was too late in the day Friday to find out what actions might be taken because of the findings, said spokeswoman Sara Mangiaracina. She issued this statement:
"We support the efforts of the IBWC (boundary commission) to resolve this. The IBWC is particularly well placed for helping to resolve this issue in a constructive manner."
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/251978.php
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