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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.latimes.com/politics/ess...rump-administration-1505930294-htmlstory.html

Sept. 20, 2017, 11:08 a.m.
California sues to stop Trump's border wall: 'No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president'
Patrick McGreevy and Jazmine Ulloa

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that President Trump's proposal to expedite construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border violates laws aimed at protecting the environment.

Becerra announced the legal challenge standing in front of the existing border fencing at Border Field State Park near San Diego, saying the federal government failed to comply with federal environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that don't authorize border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties.

”No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president of the United States," Becerra said. ”The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles. The list of laws violated by the president's administration in order to build his campaign wall is almost as long."

He said the project involves the improper waiver of 37 federal statutes, many aimed at protecting the environment.

Filed in federal court in San Diego and including the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, the lawsuit states its purpose is ”to protect the State of California's residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution" and federal law.

The lawsuit also alleges that federal officials have not shown any data suggesting new border barriers in the San Diego area will reduce illegal entry into the U.S., nor that there is a significant problem in that area.

It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico.

The California lawsuit claims the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution's separation-of-powers doctrine ”by vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws."

The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act.

As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of the 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall.

A federal official declined comment.

”As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation," said Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

 

[5taquitos]

In unrelated news, Trump to dismantle 37 environmental protection statutes.

 

[Volimar]

Good. Fight it wherever you can. Screw Trump's monument to government waste.

 

[mnannola]

“No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president of the United States,” Becerra said. “The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles. The list of laws violated by the president’s administration in order to build his campaign wall is almost as long.”

Damn

 

[norm9]

I've been reading this book- Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520283945/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It reimagines the wall as more than just a wall. As volleyball net, floating zeppelins, open air theater, waterpark, etc. Really interesting stuff.

More on topic, it amazes me eminent domain allows so many property owners to get fucked by the illegal construction of this "wall."

 

[Angry Grimace]

I would be surprised if even under the most generous circumstances Trump ever got ground broken on a wall. And that assumes he got re-elected, which he wouldn't.