DuBois column: Border affairs & Bison bucks

 

Border affairs & Bison bucks

Biden “waives”

We have a 2,000 mile border with Mexico, with many American farm and ranch families located on or near that border, on government owned and private land. We all received a big surprise because Biden just announced he’ll build twenty more miles of border wall. Not only that, his administration will invoke their authority to waive 26 different environmentally-oriented laws to see the wall will be built without delay!

This has raised several questions. One reader on my blog commented: “Since when does an official have the authority to waive laws??

Since Congress passed a law allowing it.

It all began when a law was passed to build a structure in the San Diego area, but by the mid-nineties nothing had been done.

The California Coastal Commission and other enviros kept the project delayed through appeals and court cases. The waiver language had its beginning and was inserted in an immigration law. It has been amended several times and exists today as Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. That is why Homeland Secretary Mayorcas writes in his federal register notice, “Finally, in section 102(c) of IIRIRA, Congress granted to the Secretary of Homeland Security the authority to waive all legal requirements that I, in my sole discretion, determine necessary to ensure the expeditious construction of barriers and roads authorized by section 102 of IIRIRA. “

He then lists the twenty-six laws he is waiving. They include endangered species, clean water, clean air, migratory bird treaty, and of course, the national environmental policy act. The average NEPA document now takes four years to complete. The Endangered Species Act is important for this area, which is home to the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and several endangered species. Lawfare writes that, in addition to being an immigration hotspot, the Lower Rio Grande Valley represents a “transition between temperate and tropical conditions and contains an exceptionally high diversity of plants and animals—some of them found in few, or no other places in the United States.” This includes the northern ocelot leopard and northern aplomado falcon—both listed as endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This tells us first that if Congress really wants something they will do whatever it takes to get it. In this case they have delegated their authority to amend or revoke a statute. Secondly it demonstrates they are aware of the damage done by these statutes, but are unable or unwilling to do anything about it. They have special waivers for their projects, but none for ours.

Bison bucks

Various federal and state officials recently met on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge to celebrate the $2.6 million they have been awarded from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These funds will be used to manage bison, and to expand their range in the refuge from 6,500 acres to 10,000 acres.  These funds will also go towards acquiring fencing and cattle guards to help this project, as well as to drill wells at the edges of the project.

Deputy refuge manager Megan Klosterman calls bison “ecosystem engineers,” and says allowing them to roam more freely across the refuge will help native plants grow better and increase species diversity in the grasslands ecosystem.

They evolved with the native plants, so their feeding on vegetation actually helps it grow back stronger, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy director Siva Sundaresan said. The weight of their footsteps (males can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, females 1,000) mixes nutrients in the soil, and their hoof prints create wet microclimates for new plants to grow.

Do you believe that spending money on fencing, cattle guards and water wells will reduce inflation? 

I do.

 And I also believe there are buffalo chips the size of houses floating down the Rio Grande today.  

And let’s start calling our livestock “ecosystem engineers” and I hope they are making wet “microclimates” all over your country.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

This column originally appeared in the November editions of the New Mexico Stockman and the Livestock Market Digest.