WASHINGTON — The Sierra Club on Nov. 9 condemned a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows the Trump administration to resume building border walls, roads and other infrastructure in the Big Bend region of West Texas.
According to the environmental group, the ruling lifts a lower court injunction that had temporarily halted the project while a legal challenge proceeds. The underlying case remains ongoing, the group said.
The Sierra Club, which calls itself the nation’s largest grassroots environmental organization, said the construction threatens Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, critical wildlife habitat and culturally significant sites along the Rio Grande.
“The Supreme Court’s decision allows the Trump administration to resume destructive construction before serious questions” about the project’s legality are resolved, said Dan Ritzman, the Sierra Club’s director of conservation. Ritzman said damage to fragile desert ecosystems and historic landscapes cannot be undone and argued that national parks and public lands should not be sacrificed for border infrastructure the group considers unnecessary.
Dave Cortez, director of the group’s Lone Star Chapter in Texas, tied the ruling to the Nov. 3 elections. “Millions of Texans turned out to vote for change last week, and Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike have spoken out” against the plans, Cortez said, according to the release.
Cortez said the ruling ignores bipartisan opposition and that the chapter will pursue every available avenue, including backing state legislation from Texas state Rep. Eddie Morales Jr. that would bar border wall construction on state park property.
The Sierra Club and its Lone Star Chapter previously joined the National Parks Conservation Association in an amicus brief, with representation from the environmental law firm Earthjustice, supporting a challenge to the administration’s waivers of environmental protections for the project and a request to halt construction.
The release did not identify the case by name or include a response from the administration.
This report is based on information from the Sierra Club.
Source: Sierra Club
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