Speech #1040272533

Mr. President. one of the most egregious differences between the immigration bill passed by the Senate many months ago and the bill now thrust on us for final passage is the permanent and nationwide waiver of our environmental laws for border control activities. Like most of the American public. I am fed up with attacks on our important environmental laws. Failing to gut the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. some Members of Congress have resorted to backdoor stealth attacks on these laws. Now Republicans include a gratuitous attach on our wildlife and ecosystems through. of all things. an immigration bill. The nationwide scope of the environmental waivers in the immigration bill reaches far and beyond the goals of strong immigration control. By exempting all road construction. bridge construction. and barrier construction along the entire U.S. border from the Endangered Species Act. the waiver will permanently weaken national and international wildlife conservation. Like many provisions in the immigration bill. this provision was inserted during the Republicanonly HouseSenate conference. and now the bill grants a permanent and nationwide waiver of the National Environmental Policy Act. the fundamental charter of our environmental protection. Claims that the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act delay or stop the INS from controlling illegal immigration are wholly unsubstantiated. These laws should not be waived or exempted without full congressional consideration. hearings and public debate. and need not be waived in these circumstances. Simply put. the ESA requires all Federal agencies to avoid adverse impacts on endangered and threatened species. Immigration and Naturalization Service staff are not biology experts. When the INS makes plans to build a road through a remote border area on public lands they consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service biologists to ensure that their plans are ecologically sound. For instance. when INS wanted to build a border bridge in Texas. biologists asked them to minimize impact on nearby wetlands by lifting the bridge out of the flood plain 2 feet.