Brownsville Herald
April 17, 2010
by Laura Tillman
Max Pons sees more wildlife in one day than most people see in months.
On Friday, Pons watched Black-bellied Whistling Ducks as they conducted reconnaissance to find the best place to build a nest.
He saw Altimira Orioles gathering food, walked along a stretch of sunflowers, Texas thistle, prickly poppies, and guinea grass, and kneeled down to pluck a sample of pepper grass as Indigo Buntings whipped through the air.
While many South Texans manage to get out to the area’s wildlife refuges a few days a month or year, Pons considers it a privilege to call The Nature Conservancy Southmost Preserve his workplace and his home for 18 years.
But after a court order granting possession of 8.31 acres of the land to the U.S. government for construction of 1.5 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border fence, Pons’ idyllic home may be no more. About 95 percent of the Nature Conservancy’s property will fall south of the fence, including one of the last two protected Sabal Palm groves in the United States.
As caretaker of the property, Pons’ home will fall behind the fence, along with the conservancy’s nursery.
“The border wall causes several unique damages and problems for the conservancy, including dangers to protected and rare species,” said Laura Huffman, the Texas director of The Nature Conservancy, an international nonprofit organization. “There are also security and access concerns for what will now be on the backside of the wall, including the Nature Conservancy operations and the home of the preserve manager and his family. A decision has not yet been made as to whether or not the Nature Conservancy can continue at this location.”
The stretch of border fence is among the last to be built in Brownsville, along with a half mile of fence in Lincoln Park, according to Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Tara Dunlop. Engineers at the Nature Conservancy site said construction on the fence would start on Monday.
“We’re certainly disappointed,” said John Herron, Texas director of conservation for The Nature Conservancy. “We’re very concerned about how a fence will affect our ability to operate our preserve. I think we understand the concern about security and we certainly want to be supportive. But like any landowner we’re disappointed with the fact that the federal government has chosen to take the land.”
Pons takes care to talk with the Border Patrol agents, engineers, and construction staff who are now a regular presence in what remains his home and workplace. He chats with them about the wildlife, weather patterns, and the path of the fence.
“You’re just the messengers,” Pons said members of the Kiewit crew.
Pons walked along the segment of fence that has already been constructed near The Nature Conservancy property and came upon an old shed about 30 feet from the fence line.
“We were hoping they’d have to tear this shed down,” Pons said jokingly, pointing out the shed. “There’s a big bee population living in there they’d have to contend with.”
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/-111084--.html
Showing posts with label Kiewit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kiewit. Show all posts
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
Border store sues fence builder, US over flood damage
Arizona Daily Star
November 28, 2009
by Brady McCombs
The U.S. government and the company with which it contracted to build a border fence in Lukeville are facing a suit from the owners of a border town convenience store for damages from a July 2008 flash flood.
The Gringo Pass Inc. lawsuit also accuses Kiewit Construction Co. of owing $2.7 million in unpaid rent and water bills. Gringo Pass owns property and a private water well next to the border in Lukeville, in southeastern Arizona south of Ajo.
In a motion to dismiss the case, Kiewit says it never had a written contract with Gringo Pass for rent or water, calling the grievance an "after-the-fact demand for an exorbitant property lease — matters that fail as a matter of law."
Attorneys for Kiewit — which was given a $21.3 million contract in 2007 to build 5.2 miles of steel mesh fence flanking Lukeville — also say the grievance is really against the federal government's mandate to construct the border fence.
No trial date has been set for the case, filed in U.S. District Court in May, but attorneys are scheduled to meet in court on Jan. 12.
Debris piled up
The Gringo Pass contention that the newly constructed, 15-foot-high wire mesh border fence caused flooding during a July 12, 2008, rainstorm has backing from a report issued that year by Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument officials.
According to the report, the fence acted as a dam during a storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, Ariz., and Sonoyta, Sonora.
The report said debris piled up against the fence, including in drainage gates designed to prevent flooding, and that the 6-foot-deep fence foundation stopped subsurface water flow. As a result, water pooled 2 to 7 feet deep, depending on the area, causing water that usually flows north to south across the border in natural drainage washes to flow laterally.
That water flowed toward Lukeville, causing flood damage to private property, government offices and businesses in Luke-ville and Sonoyta, the report said.
The fence did not live up to promises made by officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Kiewit that it would "permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border" the report said.
The water pooled up in the Gringo Pass convenience store, damaging merchandise and forcing the store's closure for cleanup, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says the flooding diminished property value by $6 million.
Unpaid bills
The lawsuit says Gringo Pass entered into an agreement with Kiewit Construction in 2007 to rent property and provide water.
Gringo Pass says Kiewit agreed to pay 50 cents per gallon for water and that Kiewit still owes it $2 million for using 4 million gallons of water.
Kiewit says it never agreed to that rate and called it exorbitant. The city of Tucson charges customers less than one-fourth of a cent per gallon for water.
The lawsuit also says Gringo Pass rented Kiewit two parts of its property for $50,000 a month each for Kiewit to store equipment and materials. It alleges that Kiewit owes $700,000 in rent.
Kiewit said it has paid Gringo Pass for the use of the property and disputes the allegation that it agreed to additional fees for property or water.
It says they never had a written agreement and says Gringo Pass is not a utility, and thus can't charge for water.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/319248.php
November 28, 2009
by Brady McCombs
The U.S. government and the company with which it contracted to build a border fence in Lukeville are facing a suit from the owners of a border town convenience store for damages from a July 2008 flash flood.
The Gringo Pass Inc. lawsuit also accuses Kiewit Construction Co. of owing $2.7 million in unpaid rent and water bills. Gringo Pass owns property and a private water well next to the border in Lukeville, in southeastern Arizona south of Ajo.
In a motion to dismiss the case, Kiewit says it never had a written contract with Gringo Pass for rent or water, calling the grievance an "after-the-fact demand for an exorbitant property lease — matters that fail as a matter of law."
Attorneys for Kiewit — which was given a $21.3 million contract in 2007 to build 5.2 miles of steel mesh fence flanking Lukeville — also say the grievance is really against the federal government's mandate to construct the border fence.
No trial date has been set for the case, filed in U.S. District Court in May, but attorneys are scheduled to meet in court on Jan. 12.
Debris piled up
The Gringo Pass contention that the newly constructed, 15-foot-high wire mesh border fence caused flooding during a July 12, 2008, rainstorm has backing from a report issued that year by Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument officials.
According to the report, the fence acted as a dam during a storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, Ariz., and Sonoyta, Sonora.
The report said debris piled up against the fence, including in drainage gates designed to prevent flooding, and that the 6-foot-deep fence foundation stopped subsurface water flow. As a result, water pooled 2 to 7 feet deep, depending on the area, causing water that usually flows north to south across the border in natural drainage washes to flow laterally.
That water flowed toward Lukeville, causing flood damage to private property, government offices and businesses in Luke-ville and Sonoyta, the report said.
The fence did not live up to promises made by officials from the Department of Homeland Security and Kiewit that it would "permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border" the report said.
The water pooled up in the Gringo Pass convenience store, damaging merchandise and forcing the store's closure for cleanup, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says the flooding diminished property value by $6 million.
Unpaid bills
The lawsuit says Gringo Pass entered into an agreement with Kiewit Construction in 2007 to rent property and provide water.
Gringo Pass says Kiewit agreed to pay 50 cents per gallon for water and that Kiewit still owes it $2 million for using 4 million gallons of water.
Kiewit says it never agreed to that rate and called it exorbitant. The city of Tucson charges customers less than one-fourth of a cent per gallon for water.
The lawsuit also says Gringo Pass rented Kiewit two parts of its property for $50,000 a month each for Kiewit to store equipment and materials. It alleges that Kiewit owes $700,000 in rent.
Kiewit said it has paid Gringo Pass for the use of the property and disputes the allegation that it agreed to additional fees for property or water.
It says they never had a written agreement and says Gringo Pass is not a utility, and thus can't charge for water.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/mailstory-clickthru/319248.php
Thursday, November 12, 2009
DHS moves forward with border fence through orchard and man's heart
Brownsville Herald
November 11, 2009
by Ildefonso Ortiz
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s removal of more than 70 grapefruit trees from land that was once part of an orchard was the latest blow to Leonard Loop’s heart.
On Wednesday morning, members of the Loop family watched helplessly as a government contractor’s large yellow Caterpillar excavator began the process of removing the trees. The trees were removed to make way for the border wall, which is being built by the Kiewit Corporation for the DHS.
Some the grapefruit trees were more than 20 years old, said a visually saddened Loop.
"I’m pretty worn out by all of this," he said.
The removal of the trees is the latest installment in a nightmare that began more than 18 months ago when the 72-year-old Loop, who was born on his family’s property, received the federal government’s first notice of condemnation.
The notice informed him that his land would be cut almost in half with a large portion of his property sandwiched between the structure and the Rio Grande.
"My father and my grandfather farmed along the river," Loop said. "This fence will make that very difficult."
Since the wall will eventually divide his property, one of the main issues Loop had with the government was the location of access points to their land south of the wall and the rules applying to those gates.
"They (government officials) have said something and then changed their minds," he said. "At one point they said they would close the gates after 6 p.m.; then they said they wouldn’t. Its almost 2010 and I still don’t know what kind of gate they are going to put there."
According to the farmer, in order to access his property, he would have to cut through one or the other of his neighbors’ properties.
The difficult access to the property worries Loop’s wife, Deborah, because not only will her family and workers farm land to the south side of the wall, but some of her family members live there, too.
"I’m worried about the safety of my son, (Frank). His house is on the south side of the fence (which is near completion)," said Deborah Loop. "What happens if we need emergency assistance? How long will it take for help to get there and what happens if they can’t get through the gate? Now I don’t feel so free in my own country."
To make matters worse for the Loops, the government has now set their eyes on the river levee and is in the process of exercising eminent domain.
"We are not allowed to drive along the fence road or to drive onto the levee," Loop said. "We are not going to hurt anybody. We just want to be able to keep an eye on our land."
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/moves-104925-border-orchard.html
November 11, 2009
by Ildefonso Ortiz
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s removal of more than 70 grapefruit trees from land that was once part of an orchard was the latest blow to Leonard Loop’s heart.
On Wednesday morning, members of the Loop family watched helplessly as a government contractor’s large yellow Caterpillar excavator began the process of removing the trees. The trees were removed to make way for the border wall, which is being built by the Kiewit Corporation for the DHS.
Some the grapefruit trees were more than 20 years old, said a visually saddened Loop.
"I’m pretty worn out by all of this," he said.
The removal of the trees is the latest installment in a nightmare that began more than 18 months ago when the 72-year-old Loop, who was born on his family’s property, received the federal government’s first notice of condemnation.
The notice informed him that his land would be cut almost in half with a large portion of his property sandwiched between the structure and the Rio Grande.
"My father and my grandfather farmed along the river," Loop said. "This fence will make that very difficult."
Since the wall will eventually divide his property, one of the main issues Loop had with the government was the location of access points to their land south of the wall and the rules applying to those gates.
"They (government officials) have said something and then changed their minds," he said. "At one point they said they would close the gates after 6 p.m.; then they said they wouldn’t. Its almost 2010 and I still don’t know what kind of gate they are going to put there."
According to the farmer, in order to access his property, he would have to cut through one or the other of his neighbors’ properties.
The difficult access to the property worries Loop’s wife, Deborah, because not only will her family and workers farm land to the south side of the wall, but some of her family members live there, too.
"I’m worried about the safety of my son, (Frank). His house is on the south side of the fence (which is near completion)," said Deborah Loop. "What happens if we need emergency assistance? How long will it take for help to get there and what happens if they can’t get through the gate? Now I don’t feel so free in my own country."
To make matters worse for the Loops, the government has now set their eyes on the river levee and is in the process of exercising eminent domain.
"We are not allowed to drive along the fence road or to drive onto the levee," Loop said. "We are not going to hurt anybody. We just want to be able to keep an eye on our land."
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/moves-104925-border-orchard.html
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Legal Case Against Friendship Park Activist Continued
KPBS San Diego
June 10, 2009
by Amy Isackson
June 10, 2009
by Amy Isackson
The legal case against an activist who tried to block construction of the westernmost section of the border fence was continued Wednesday morning. As KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson explains Dan Watman faces trespassing charges in connection with his effort to save Friendship Park.
On April 8th, Dan Watman stood in front of a bulldozer at Friendship Park.
The Department of Homeland Security had recently sealed off the space with more border fencing.
Watman says he blocked the fence construction for about 40 minutes.
"What I believe as far as far as people making friends across barriers, it was about as symbolic as it could get. That was the last post even with the friendship monument which in my mind represents the friendship between the people of both nations."
Federal agents cited Watman with misdemeanor trespassing charges.
The park had been a crossborder meeting spot for 30 years.
For the last six years, Watman organized activities there like yoga, salsa dancing and language lessons. People on both sides of the fence participated.
Watman says there's a chance federal officials could re-open the park. He's plans to meet with the Border Patrol later this month.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/jun/10/legal-case-against-friendship-park-activist-contin/
Friday, April 17, 2009
Obama, guns, and Eloisa Tamez
San Antonio Current
April 17, 2009
by Greg Harman
Eloisa Tamez, who you may remember from the Current’s border series, is headed back to South Texas today.
She had been presenting at a conference in Albuquerque about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border when she got word that back at home a federal judge had ruled that U.S. Homeland Security has the right to take a quarter-acre of her South Texas border land. This is land in her family inhabited before Spanish colonization, she has argued, and was deeded to her relatives through a Spanish Land Grant.
It’s been a year since Tamaz walked with me atop the earthen levy on the back side of her property. For the university professor, it’s been a year of going in and out of court fighting Homeland Security.
While I couldn’t reach Eloisa this morning, her daughter Margo returned by call, sharing how distraught she and her mother were on hearing the news yesterday.
Margo said compounding the shock was the fact that her mother had approached no fewer than six different appraisal companies trying to get a good appraisal on her land with no luck.
One finally agreed, Margo Tamez said, but then “fell off the face of the earth.”
The ramifications of the ruling for more than a dozen other landowners that had joined her mother’s lawsuit is unclear, she added.
Prominent and sustained violence in several Northern Mexico border towns appears to have provided the government justification to continue forward with nearly 700 miles of border wall construction ordered by Congress, in spite of the hope many had held out that Obama’s new administration could force a policy reversal.
However, when President Obama met with fellow Harvard alum President Felipe Calderon yesterday in Mexico City, individual liberty and indigenous land rights weren’t on the agenda.
Crime was.
From CNN, we read:
Individual liberty and indigenous land rights have received little mention in the court of U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen. (For more on human rights and the Wall, check out the analysis of this University of Texas-based group.)
To visit, it seems bizarre to think seizing property in out-of-the-way El Calaboz could have any impact on guns heading south or drugs coming north. If that’s the point.
The New Mexico Independent caught up with Tamez, adding to the discussion:
In recent months, El Calaboz, a small community outside Brownsville, has been overrun by Homeland contractors in burst of a sort of “mili-tourism,” Margo Tamez told me.
Nebraska plates are in abundance, thanks to Halliburton subsidiary Kiewit, she said. “They’ve just been overrun by Nebraska license plates."
http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/queblog.asp?perm=69675
April 17, 2009
by Greg Harman
Eloisa Tamez, who you may remember from the Current’s border series, is headed back to South Texas today.
She had been presenting at a conference in Albuquerque about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border when she got word that back at home a federal judge had ruled that U.S. Homeland Security has the right to take a quarter-acre of her South Texas border land. This is land in her family inhabited before Spanish colonization, she has argued, and was deeded to her relatives through a Spanish Land Grant.
It’s been a year since Tamaz walked with me atop the earthen levy on the back side of her property. For the university professor, it’s been a year of going in and out of court fighting Homeland Security.
While I couldn’t reach Eloisa this morning, her daughter Margo returned by call, sharing how distraught she and her mother were on hearing the news yesterday.
Margo said compounding the shock was the fact that her mother had approached no fewer than six different appraisal companies trying to get a good appraisal on her land with no luck.
One finally agreed, Margo Tamez said, but then “fell off the face of the earth.”
The ramifications of the ruling for more than a dozen other landowners that had joined her mother’s lawsuit is unclear, she added.
Prominent and sustained violence in several Northern Mexico border towns appears to have provided the government justification to continue forward with nearly 700 miles of border wall construction ordered by Congress, in spite of the hope many had held out that Obama’s new administration could force a policy reversal.
However, when President Obama met with fellow Harvard alum President Felipe Calderon yesterday in Mexico City, individual liberty and indigenous land rights weren’t on the agenda.
Crime was.
From CNN, we read:
"At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the borders," Obama said alongside Calderon in a ceremony in Mexico, "it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative, but also on our side of the border in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south."
Individual liberty and indigenous land rights have received little mention in the court of U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen. (For more on human rights and the Wall, check out the analysis of this University of Texas-based group.)
To visit, it seems bizarre to think seizing property in out-of-the-way El Calaboz could have any impact on guns heading south or drugs coming north. If that’s the point.
The New Mexico Independent caught up with Tamez, adding to the discussion:
What many may not realize is that in Texas the federal government is using eminent domain powers to take private property of U.S. citizens north of the border in order to build the so-called border wall, often effectively cutting property owners off from their land south of the newly constructed wall.
The massive wall being constructed along the U.S./Mexico border does not sit on the actual border, which in Texas is the Rio Grande.
Tamez’s land was once part of the San Pedro de Carricitos Land Grant, created by the King of Spain in 1767. While it was handed down to Tamez through many generations, her heritage on the land actually predates even the land grant, she explained. Tamez’s ancestors include tribal members of the indigenous Lipan Apache.
The massive wall being constructed along the U.S./Mexico border does not sit on the actual border, which in Texas is the Rio Grande.
Tamez’s land was once part of the San Pedro de Carricitos Land Grant, created by the King of Spain in 1767. While it was handed down to Tamez through many generations, her heritage on the land actually predates even the land grant, she explained. Tamez’s ancestors include tribal members of the indigenous Lipan Apache.
In recent months, El Calaboz, a small community outside Brownsville, has been overrun by Homeland contractors in burst of a sort of “mili-tourism,” Margo Tamez told me.
Nebraska plates are in abundance, thanks to Halliburton subsidiary Kiewit, she said. “They’ve just been overrun by Nebraska license plates."
http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/queblog.asp?perm=69675
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Border fence contractor faces $8.7M lawsuit
The Zonie Report
April 11, 2009
by Adam Klawonn
NEAR LUKEVILLE — A local convenience store owner is suing the company hired by the U.S. government to build Arizona’s portion of the border fence, claiming it owes the store money for overdue storage and water use fees in connection with the project.
The lawsuit in Pima County Superior Court comes from Gringo Pass Inc., whose convenience store is the last stop before crossing from Arizona into Mexico at the Lukeville port-of-entry.
April 11, 2009
by Adam Klawonn
NEAR LUKEVILLE — A local convenience store owner is suing the company hired by the U.S. government to build Arizona’s portion of the border fence, claiming it owes the store money for overdue storage and water use fees in connection with the project.
The lawsuit in Pima County Superior Court comes from Gringo Pass Inc., whose convenience store is the last stop before crossing from Arizona into Mexico at the Lukeville port-of-entry.
According to the complaint, a lawyer for Gringo Pass claims the company entered into a verbal agreement with Kiewit Southwest Co. that would allow the company to park its vehicles and equipment on the convenience store’s property during the construction project. That project called for building a 5.2-mile fence through the region for $21.3 million, according to press reports.
In July 2008, the fence swamped the border and local businesses. Officials for Organ Pipe National Monument released a 17-page report that claimed the fence had design flaws that turned it into a man-made dam while monsoon storms swept through, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star.
In its complaint, Gringo Pass blames the project for causing $6 million in damages to its property. As a result, the company is asking Pima County Superior Court Judge John Davis for a $6 million award.
It also claims Kiewit did not pay about four months worth of rent for space and more than 4 million gallons of water. The company is asking the judge to award it more than $2.7 million in connection with those fees, plus 10 percent interest per year.
Tucson lawyers Joel L. Herz and Russell B. Stowers are representing Gringo Pass. To download a copy of the complaint, click here.
http://zoniereport.com/2009/04/border-fence-contractor-faces-lawsuit-67772/Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Contractors Hired To Build Border Fence
KVEO Channel 23
October 1, 2008
The contractors are hired to build four sections of the controversial border fence throughout Cameron County.Like it or not, Homeland Security says the fence is going up.
Proof of that is in the form of these multi-million dollar construction contracts.
Precinct 2 Cameron County Commissioner, John Wood strongly opposes the fence, and says, these new contracts are a shame.
Two contractors, Keiwit Construction and Jaco Construction have been hired.
Wood says these contractors are being paid about 37 million dollars to bulid the fence in Cameron County on a little more than 7 miles of land. Wood believes this is a waste of money, and says the fence will be built in four separate sections, affecting many land owners.
"It's just not fair, for the landowners, they are being taken advantage of, I don't think they've been treated fairly or negotiated with, " Wood says.
Recently, Commissioner Wood even visited other parts of the state to see what the border fence already looks like.
"I was in El Paso last week, i saw some fencing being done there, a little bit of a difference there, they're using a hurricane like fence, a little bit of mesh wire."
The fence here, Wood says, will probably be an 18 foot high, bollard fence, in which he believes is highly un-wanted. "The federal government's spending money like this, and I think it's useless. '
A date as to when the building will begin has still not been set.
http://www.kveo.com/home/ticker/29983679.html
October 1, 2008
The contractors are hired to build four sections of the controversial border fence throughout Cameron County.Like it or not, Homeland Security says the fence is going up.
Proof of that is in the form of these multi-million dollar construction contracts.
Precinct 2 Cameron County Commissioner, John Wood strongly opposes the fence, and says, these new contracts are a shame.
Two contractors, Keiwit Construction and Jaco Construction have been hired.
Wood says these contractors are being paid about 37 million dollars to bulid the fence in Cameron County on a little more than 7 miles of land. Wood believes this is a waste of money, and says the fence will be built in four separate sections, affecting many land owners.
"It's just not fair, for the landowners, they are being taken advantage of, I don't think they've been treated fairly or negotiated with, " Wood says.
Recently, Commissioner Wood even visited other parts of the state to see what the border fence already looks like.
"I was in El Paso last week, i saw some fencing being done there, a little bit of a difference there, they're using a hurricane like fence, a little bit of mesh wire."
The fence here, Wood says, will probably be an 18 foot high, bollard fence, in which he believes is highly un-wanted. "The federal government's spending money like this, and I think it's useless. '
A date as to when the building will begin has still not been set.
http://www.kveo.com/home/ticker/29983679.html
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Border fence design blasted as causing flooding
Associated Press / San Diego Union-Tribune
August 23, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. – Environmentalists say flooding caused by a newly built border security fence during a July monsoon bears out their concerns and warnings about the adverse environmental impacts of the government's rush to build fences.
The immediate case in point centers around fencing built on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southwestern Arizona. Officials say the design of the fence between the U.S. and Mexico caused debris and water backup during a July 12 storm that led to flooding at the port of entry at Lukeville and Sonoyta, Mexico.
“One of the reasons for it was the debris that accumulated on the fence itself,” said Lee Baiza, superintendent of the Organ Pipe monument, which is part of the National Park Service.
Environmental groups have been critical of the manner in which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractors for federal agencies have designed and built a range of fencing and vehicle barriers at various points along the Arizona-Mexico border.
In particular, they've denounced Homeland Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff's waiver of environmental laws to hasten construction as the Bush administration pushes to complete 670 miles of fences and other barriers by year's end along part of the nearly 2,000-mile Mexican border.
The barriers are intended to deter illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Congress granted the waiver authority in 2005.
Critics have said the design of the pedestrian fencing being put in on the Arizona border is flawed. Much of that fencing consists of 10-foot wide and 15-foot tall steel-mesh panels, some featuring a series of wide horizontal grates at the bottom designed to let water and sediment flow through.
“While the Bush administration may claim it's taking environmental impacts of the border wall into consideration, building wire mesh fences across washes prone to debris-laden floods is fundamentally flawed,” Robin Silver, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Defenders of Wildlife spokesman Matt Clark said what happened at Organ Pipe validates the warnings voiced to Homeland Security before construction started to expect flooding there and at other Arizona locations, including next to the San Pedro River in Cochise County.
“It doesn't take an expert hydrologist to anticipate the potential for these walls to become like dams,” Clark said, “especially in flash flood type of storms, where a lot of water and debris are generated very quickly and can pile up against the fences very rapidly.”
He noted that rapidly moving runoff in washes dislodged or eroded large chunks of concrete foundations, and debris stacking up against the fence itself created barriers or dams redirecting the water, creating gullies and causing even more erosion.
Federal officials maintain that while Chertoff has invoked his waiver authority three times in Arizona, he has ordered Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol officials to adhere to environmental requirements anyway.
“We are still required to follow every environmental rule, regulation and policy,” said Robert Gilbert, chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector. “He does not waive us doing what we would have to do without the waiver. So it doesn't change anything in the environment.”
The Organ Pipe monument's staff produced a report earlier this month on the pedestrian fence's effect on the 330,000-acre monument's drainage systems and infrastructure.
It concluded that the fence failed to meet hydrologic performance standards of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or standards set by the U.S. Border Patrol's final environmental assessment for the project.
That assessment determined that the 5.2-mile pedestrian fence would have no significant impact on the monument's environmental features.
But the recent monument report said its own staff had raised concerns last year over the fence-building plans, based on knowledge of local flash flooding and of a previously installed vehicle barrier, where debris catches on upright posts up to 12 feet apart.
The July 12 storm dumped as much as 2 inches in about 90 minutes in the area, and water running south through washes on the monument was backed up as debris piled along the base of the fence.
It created backwater pools up to seven feet deep and lateral flows several hundred feet wide that moved out of the washes, eroding some areas along patrol roads. The waters even scoured some fence and vehicle barrier foundations.
“The monument had suggested that they take into consideration everything that can happen with a weather event,” particularly an accumulation of debris, Baiza said. “We had a concern that this was going to happen.
“In this case, we're catching everything,” he said.
Baiza said the fence designers are being asked to come back and study the drainages again to come up with alternatives.
In Washington, Barry Morrissey, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said engineers will be talking with park service officials to discuss the findings and recommendations.
“We are anxious to look at the information contained in the report and then sit down and look at what adjustments might be made to correct the problem,” he said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080823-1256-wst-borderfence-floods.html
August 23, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. – Environmentalists say flooding caused by a newly built border security fence during a July monsoon bears out their concerns and warnings about the adverse environmental impacts of the government's rush to build fences.
The immediate case in point centers around fencing built on the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southwestern Arizona. Officials say the design of the fence between the U.S. and Mexico caused debris and water backup during a July 12 storm that led to flooding at the port of entry at Lukeville and Sonoyta, Mexico.
“One of the reasons for it was the debris that accumulated on the fence itself,” said Lee Baiza, superintendent of the Organ Pipe monument, which is part of the National Park Service.
Environmental groups have been critical of the manner in which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractors for federal agencies have designed and built a range of fencing and vehicle barriers at various points along the Arizona-Mexico border.
In particular, they've denounced Homeland Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff's waiver of environmental laws to hasten construction as the Bush administration pushes to complete 670 miles of fences and other barriers by year's end along part of the nearly 2,000-mile Mexican border.
The barriers are intended to deter illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Congress granted the waiver authority in 2005.
Critics have said the design of the pedestrian fencing being put in on the Arizona border is flawed. Much of that fencing consists of 10-foot wide and 15-foot tall steel-mesh panels, some featuring a series of wide horizontal grates at the bottom designed to let water and sediment flow through.
“While the Bush administration may claim it's taking environmental impacts of the border wall into consideration, building wire mesh fences across washes prone to debris-laden floods is fundamentally flawed,” Robin Silver, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Defenders of Wildlife spokesman Matt Clark said what happened at Organ Pipe validates the warnings voiced to Homeland Security before construction started to expect flooding there and at other Arizona locations, including next to the San Pedro River in Cochise County.
“It doesn't take an expert hydrologist to anticipate the potential for these walls to become like dams,” Clark said, “especially in flash flood type of storms, where a lot of water and debris are generated very quickly and can pile up against the fences very rapidly.”
He noted that rapidly moving runoff in washes dislodged or eroded large chunks of concrete foundations, and debris stacking up against the fence itself created barriers or dams redirecting the water, creating gullies and causing even more erosion.
Federal officials maintain that while Chertoff has invoked his waiver authority three times in Arizona, he has ordered Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol officials to adhere to environmental requirements anyway.
“We are still required to follow every environmental rule, regulation and policy,” said Robert Gilbert, chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector. “He does not waive us doing what we would have to do without the waiver. So it doesn't change anything in the environment.”
The Organ Pipe monument's staff produced a report earlier this month on the pedestrian fence's effect on the 330,000-acre monument's drainage systems and infrastructure.
It concluded that the fence failed to meet hydrologic performance standards of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or standards set by the U.S. Border Patrol's final environmental assessment for the project.
That assessment determined that the 5.2-mile pedestrian fence would have no significant impact on the monument's environmental features.
But the recent monument report said its own staff had raised concerns last year over the fence-building plans, based on knowledge of local flash flooding and of a previously installed vehicle barrier, where debris catches on upright posts up to 12 feet apart.
The July 12 storm dumped as much as 2 inches in about 90 minutes in the area, and water running south through washes on the monument was backed up as debris piled along the base of the fence.
It created backwater pools up to seven feet deep and lateral flows several hundred feet wide that moved out of the washes, eroding some areas along patrol roads. The waters even scoured some fence and vehicle barrier foundations.
“The monument had suggested that they take into consideration everything that can happen with a weather event,” particularly an accumulation of debris, Baiza said. “We had a concern that this was going to happen.
“In this case, we're catching everything,” he said.
Baiza said the fence designers are being asked to come back and study the drainages again to come up with alternatives.
In Washington, Barry Morrissey, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said engineers will be talking with park service officials to discuss the findings and recommendations.
“We are anxious to look at the information contained in the report and then sit down and look at what adjustments might be made to correct the problem,” he said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080823-1256-wst-borderfence-floods.html
Monday, August 18, 2008
$57 million border fence is going up near San Diego
Associated Press / Kansas City Star
August 16, 2008
SAN DIEGO Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges.
The 3.5-mile stretch extends from a state park on an oceanfront cliff through a canyon known as Smuggler’s Gulch. The gorge was overrun by illegal immigrants until U.S. authorities launched a crackdown in the 1990s that pushed traffic to the remote mountains and deserts of California and Arizona.
At a cost of about $16 million a mile, the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government is building elsewhere along the country’s 1,952-mile border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average cost along the entire border is $2 million to $3 million a mile.
The stretch near San Diego will cost about $57 million under a contract awarded to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., said James Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor. The lion’s share will pay for filling Smuggler’s Gulch with nearly 1.9 million tons of dirt and for building a concrete culvert to handle rainfall flowing downhill from Tijuana, Mexico, Swanson said.
The border is marked by a decaying fence made of surplus Navy landing mats. Border Patrol agents swarm the area in jeeps and pickups as they wait for migrants in Tijuana to dash about two miles through trees to the closest patch of stores and homes.
It’s a far cry from the early ’90s, when large groups blitzed across the border and overwhelmed the Border Patrol.
U.S. authorities insist new fencing is needed, despite an increase in patrols and objections from environmental groups who say the dirt shift threatens the Tijuana River estuary, home to more than 370 migratory and native birds.
“We’re not seeing the thousands, the hundreds who streamed through in the past,” said Mike Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. “However, it’s still a vulnerability that’s being exploited today.”
Arrests along the stretch have doubled in the past year as the Border Patrol has added agents, said spokesman Alex Renteria.
Arrests totaled 16,738 in the area from October through July, or about 60 a day, up from 7,944 the same period last year.
The project calls for a dirt access road and 15-foot-high steel mesh fence just north of the existing fence. Crews will build a third fence about 10 feet high farther north and install lights.
“It’s crazy,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. “I don’t see the justification to spend $60 million on an area that’s no longer an important crossing.”
He predicted the new fence will reduce crossings to “almost zero” but inflict serious environmental damage.
According to local legend, Smuggler’s Gulch got its name from alcohol smuggled into the U.S. during Prohibition. In Mexico, it is known as “Canon del Matadero” — “Slaughterhouse Canyon” — supposedly because there was once a goat slaughterhouse nearby.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/753267.html
August 16, 2008
SAN DIEGO Scrapers and bulldozers began filling a deep canyon Friday to make way for a border fence after 12 years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges.
The 3.5-mile stretch extends from a state park on an oceanfront cliff through a canyon known as Smuggler’s Gulch. The gorge was overrun by illegal immigrants until U.S. authorities launched a crackdown in the 1990s that pushed traffic to the remote mountains and deserts of California and Arizona.
At a cost of about $16 million a mile, the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government is building elsewhere along the country’s 1,952-mile border with Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the average cost along the entire border is $2 million to $3 million a mile.
The stretch near San Diego will cost about $57 million under a contract awarded to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., said James Swanson, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor. The lion’s share will pay for filling Smuggler’s Gulch with nearly 1.9 million tons of dirt and for building a concrete culvert to handle rainfall flowing downhill from Tijuana, Mexico, Swanson said.
The border is marked by a decaying fence made of surplus Navy landing mats. Border Patrol agents swarm the area in jeeps and pickups as they wait for migrants in Tijuana to dash about two miles through trees to the closest patch of stores and homes.
It’s a far cry from the early ’90s, when large groups blitzed across the border and overwhelmed the Border Patrol.
U.S. authorities insist new fencing is needed, despite an increase in patrols and objections from environmental groups who say the dirt shift threatens the Tijuana River estuary, home to more than 370 migratory and native birds.
“We’re not seeing the thousands, the hundreds who streamed through in the past,” said Mike Fisher, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. “However, it’s still a vulnerability that’s being exploited today.”
Arrests along the stretch have doubled in the past year as the Border Patrol has added agents, said spokesman Alex Renteria.
Arrests totaled 16,738 in the area from October through July, or about 60 a day, up from 7,944 the same period last year.
The project calls for a dirt access road and 15-foot-high steel mesh fence just north of the existing fence. Crews will build a third fence about 10 feet high farther north and install lights.
“It’s crazy,” said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of the Binational Center for Human Rights in Tijuana. “I don’t see the justification to spend $60 million on an area that’s no longer an important crossing.”
He predicted the new fence will reduce crossings to “almost zero” but inflict serious environmental damage.
According to local legend, Smuggler’s Gulch got its name from alcohol smuggled into the U.S. during Prohibition. In Mexico, it is known as “Canon del Matadero” — “Slaughterhouse Canyon” — supposedly because there was once a goat slaughterhouse nearby.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/753267.html
Work begins at canyon on disputed border fence
San Diego Union-Tribune
August 16, 2008
SOUTH COUNTY: After several delays, earth-moving equipment has begun scraping soil from a hillside next to Smuggler's Gulch, the canyon at the center of a controversial border fence-building operation that has pitted local environmentalists against the federal government for years.
Border Patrol Agent Jason Rodgers confirmed yesterday that contractors have been using heavy equipment this week to excavate soil from the west side of the canyon, which lies west of the San Ysidro port of entry. The federal government's plan is to build an earthen berm stretching across the canyon to support new steel mesh fencing and roads.
Kiewit Corp., based in Omaha, Neb., was awarded a $48.6 million contract for the work.
The operation, which will require filling in the canyon with more than two million cubic yards of dirt, has been criticized by environmentalists for the silt-related damage it could do to the Tijuana River estuary. In 2004, the California Coastal Commission stalled construction after ruling that the project would cause environmental damage.
A lawsuit filed by several environmental groups that same year to stop the project was thrown out of court in December 2005, after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used the authority granted to him by legislation that year to waive all laws impeding fence construction.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080816-9999-1m16b2briefs.html
August 16, 2008
SOUTH COUNTY: After several delays, earth-moving equipment has begun scraping soil from a hillside next to Smuggler's Gulch, the canyon at the center of a controversial border fence-building operation that has pitted local environmentalists against the federal government for years.
Border Patrol Agent Jason Rodgers confirmed yesterday that contractors have been using heavy equipment this week to excavate soil from the west side of the canyon, which lies west of the San Ysidro port of entry. The federal government's plan is to build an earthen berm stretching across the canyon to support new steel mesh fencing and roads.
Kiewit Corp., based in Omaha, Neb., was awarded a $48.6 million contract for the work.
The operation, which will require filling in the canyon with more than two million cubic yards of dirt, has been criticized by environmentalists for the silt-related damage it could do to the Tijuana River estuary. In 2004, the California Coastal Commission stalled construction after ruling that the project would cause environmental damage.
A lawsuit filed by several environmental groups that same year to stop the project was thrown out of court in December 2005, after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff used the authority granted to him by legislation that year to waive all laws impeding fence construction.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080816-9999-1m16b2briefs.html
Friday, August 15, 2008
Faulty design turned border fence into dam
Arizona Daily Star
August 15, 2008
By Brady McCombs
A 5.2-mile border fence recently constructed along Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument's southern border in southwestern Arizona became a dam in a recent flash flood, monument officials say.
Organ Pipe officials issued a 17-page report this week detailing how the 15-foot-high wire mesh fence halted the natural flow of floodwater during a July 12 storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, Ariz., and Sonoyta, Sonora.
Debris piled up against the fence, including in drainage gates designed to prevent flooding, and the 6-foot deep fence foundation stopped subsurface water flow, the report said.
As a result, water pooled 2 to 7 feet high, depending on the area, causing water that usually flows north to south across the border in natural drainage washes to flow laterally, the report said.
A wash directly west of Lukeville flowed more than 200 feet along the fence and through the port of entry at the international border, causing flood damage to private property, government offices and businesses in Lukeville and Sonoyta, the report said.
Simply put: The fence did not live up to promises made by officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Border Patrol or Kiewit Western Co., the private company that built the fence for $21.3 million, the report said.
"As a consequence, natural resources of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and National Park Service infrastructure will be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the U.S. and Mexico," the report said.
The report has been sent to the Border Patrol and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said Lee Baiza, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument superintendent.
"I would just like to have them come back and re-evaluate the structure," Baiza said.
"They need to come up with a process to be able to remove the debris prior to reaching the fence or the alter the design of the fence to accommodate more flow."
The Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with Homeland Security, designed the fence.
In washes, the fence has grate openings at the bottom that are 6 inches high and 24 inches wide with 1-by-3-inch bars. The grates are designed to accommodate a flood, the report said.
Nearly all of the 5.2-mile fence, which flanks Lukeville, was completed this summer, Baiza said. Kiewit is working to finish a small section that goes up and over a steep hill west of Lukeville, he said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials had not yet seen the report and declined to comment, said spokesman Barry Morrissey, based in Washington, D.C.
A Kiewit spokesman said his company couldn't comment on the report without authorization from the Corps of Engineers.
Kiewit, based in Omaha, Neb., has also been awarded a $16.6 million contract to build 6.24 miles of fencing west of the San Pedro River in Cochise County, figures from the Corps of Engineers show.
It is the second time this year that a border barrier has been blamed for flooding, the other being a wall in Nogales, Ariz., that Mexican officials said caused severe flooding in Nogales, Sonora.
That occurred the same day as the flooding on Organ Pipe: July 12.
Environmentalists say they have been warning about such problems with the border fences since plans came out.
"What we are seeing graphically at Organ Pipe was predictable — this is what happens when you circumvent environmental laws," said Robin Silver, co-founder and board member of the Center for Biological Diversity.
"When you build an impediment across a stream, it becomes a dam. And providing some holes in a fence is a joke."
The impediment to the flow of water can accelerate erosion, wipe out riparian vegetation and potentially cause lateral shifts in the locations of riverbeds, said Matt Clark, southwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife.
The diverted water flows can cause damage to people and man-made structures nearby, too.
"Whatever is in the path of the redirected water flow will be damaged, whether that's vegetation and natural resources or man-made structures," Clark said. "The power of water is a major force."
The furious pace at which Homeland Security officials have been working to install 670 miles of primary fencing and vehicle barriers by the end of the year to meet mandates resulted in a lack of diligence on such issues as water flow, Clark said.
"It's something that has been anticipated and unfortunately has apparently been ignored in the rush to build this wall," Clark said.
Though Baiza declined to join the chorus of "I told you so," the report shows that he and other Organ Pipe officials also warned Homeland Security about water-flow issues before construction began.
In October 2007, Organ Pipe officials told Homeland Security they were worried that the fence would impede the movement of floodwater across the border; that debris would get trapped in the fence; that backwater would pool up; and that the lateral flow of water would cause damage to the environment and patrol roads, the report said.
In response to those concerns, the Border Patrol issued a final environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact that said the fence would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding, the report said.
The agency said it would remove debris from the fence within the washes and arroyos immediately after rains to ensure no flooding occurred.
At a December 2007 meeting, Kiewit officials stated in a handout that the fence design "would permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border" because the drainage crossing grates "met hydraulic modeling requirements."
Baiza didn't place blame but said he wants to make sure something is done.
"We're trying to be constructive with this report, and the main thing is that I just don't want it to be forgotten or undone," Baiza said. "I want to make sure we address situations as they occur."
Organ Pipe officials have concerns about it happening again. Based on a 60-year record of daily rainfall at Organ Pipe, the amount of rain that fell July 12 occurs once every three years, the report said.
"It would like putting your finger on the end of the water hose," Baiza said. "You are restricting the water flow; that is what the fence is doing."
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/252889
August 15, 2008
By Brady McCombs
A 5.2-mile border fence recently constructed along Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument's southern border in southwestern Arizona became a dam in a recent flash flood, monument officials say.
Organ Pipe officials issued a 17-page report this week detailing how the 15-foot-high wire mesh fence halted the natural flow of floodwater during a July 12 storm that dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain in 90 minutes around the border towns of Lukeville, Ariz., and Sonoyta, Sonora.
Debris piled up against the fence, including in drainage gates designed to prevent flooding, and the 6-foot deep fence foundation stopped subsurface water flow, the report said.
As a result, water pooled 2 to 7 feet high, depending on the area, causing water that usually flows north to south across the border in natural drainage washes to flow laterally, the report said.
A wash directly west of Lukeville flowed more than 200 feet along the fence and through the port of entry at the international border, causing flood damage to private property, government offices and businesses in Lukeville and Sonoyta, the report said.
Simply put: The fence did not live up to promises made by officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Border Patrol or Kiewit Western Co., the private company that built the fence for $21.3 million, the report said.
"As a consequence, natural resources of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and National Park Service infrastructure will be impacted, as well as resources and infrastructure on neighboring lands in the U.S. and Mexico," the report said.
The report has been sent to the Border Patrol and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, said Lee Baiza, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument superintendent.
"I would just like to have them come back and re-evaluate the structure," Baiza said.
"They need to come up with a process to be able to remove the debris prior to reaching the fence or the alter the design of the fence to accommodate more flow."
The Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with Homeland Security, designed the fence.
In washes, the fence has grate openings at the bottom that are 6 inches high and 24 inches wide with 1-by-3-inch bars. The grates are designed to accommodate a flood, the report said.
Nearly all of the 5.2-mile fence, which flanks Lukeville, was completed this summer, Baiza said. Kiewit is working to finish a small section that goes up and over a steep hill west of Lukeville, he said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials had not yet seen the report and declined to comment, said spokesman Barry Morrissey, based in Washington, D.C.
A Kiewit spokesman said his company couldn't comment on the report without authorization from the Corps of Engineers.
Kiewit, based in Omaha, Neb., has also been awarded a $16.6 million contract to build 6.24 miles of fencing west of the San Pedro River in Cochise County, figures from the Corps of Engineers show.
It is the second time this year that a border barrier has been blamed for flooding, the other being a wall in Nogales, Ariz., that Mexican officials said caused severe flooding in Nogales, Sonora.
That occurred the same day as the flooding on Organ Pipe: July 12.
Environmentalists say they have been warning about such problems with the border fences since plans came out.
"What we are seeing graphically at Organ Pipe was predictable — this is what happens when you circumvent environmental laws," said Robin Silver, co-founder and board member of the Center for Biological Diversity.
"When you build an impediment across a stream, it becomes a dam. And providing some holes in a fence is a joke."
The impediment to the flow of water can accelerate erosion, wipe out riparian vegetation and potentially cause lateral shifts in the locations of riverbeds, said Matt Clark, southwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife.
The diverted water flows can cause damage to people and man-made structures nearby, too.
"Whatever is in the path of the redirected water flow will be damaged, whether that's vegetation and natural resources or man-made structures," Clark said. "The power of water is a major force."
The furious pace at which Homeland Security officials have been working to install 670 miles of primary fencing and vehicle barriers by the end of the year to meet mandates resulted in a lack of diligence on such issues as water flow, Clark said.
"It's something that has been anticipated and unfortunately has apparently been ignored in the rush to build this wall," Clark said.
Though Baiza declined to join the chorus of "I told you so," the report shows that he and other Organ Pipe officials also warned Homeland Security about water-flow issues before construction began.
In October 2007, Organ Pipe officials told Homeland Security they were worried that the fence would impede the movement of floodwater across the border; that debris would get trapped in the fence; that backwater would pool up; and that the lateral flow of water would cause damage to the environment and patrol roads, the report said.
In response to those concerns, the Border Patrol issued a final environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact that said the fence would not impede the natural flow of water or cause flooding, the report said.
The agency said it would remove debris from the fence within the washes and arroyos immediately after rains to ensure no flooding occurred.
At a December 2007 meeting, Kiewit officials stated in a handout that the fence design "would permit water and debris to flow freely and not allow ponding of water on either side of the border" because the drainage crossing grates "met hydraulic modeling requirements."
Baiza didn't place blame but said he wants to make sure something is done.
"We're trying to be constructive with this report, and the main thing is that I just don't want it to be forgotten or undone," Baiza said. "I want to make sure we address situations as they occur."
Organ Pipe officials have concerns about it happening again. Based on a 60-year record of daily rainfall at Organ Pipe, the amount of rain that fell July 12 occurs once every three years, the report said.
"It would like putting your finger on the end of the water hose," Baiza said. "You are restricting the water flow; that is what the fence is doing."
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/252889
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