Gov. Greg Abbott Announces Texas Will Secure Its Border With Buoys

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Last edited Thu Jun 8, 2023, 10:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Huffington Post

Gov. Greg Abbott announced a water-based barrier of buoys will be used to secure Texas' border.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that Texas will immediately begin the process of securing its border with Mexico with a “water-based barrier” of buoys in the Rio Grande.

“We’re securing the border at the border,” the Republican governor said at a news conference Thursday. “What these buoys will allow us to do is to prevent people from even getting to the border.”

Abbott said that the Texas Legislature appropriated $5.1 billion to secure the border and that Steve McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, and Thomas Suelzer, a general in the National Guard, “came together to employ this strategy.”

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/gov-greg-abbott-announces-texas-213831390.html

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Article doesn't say how these will prevent people from crossing. It does suggest that given the high cost it's nothing but a gift to private contractors.

On edit here are the buoys

.

[Comfortably_Numb]

1. You can rest on a buoy when the current is tiring you out. Compassionate move Gregers.

[walkingman]

2. Stupid people do stupid things.

[YDogg]

3. Proud buoys?

[Marthe48]

4. Good one

[MLAA]

6. You took the words right out of my mouth!

Great minds and all

[Shipwack]

7. PFFFFT!

[mountain grammy]

9. Ha.. perfect!

[Igel]

27. Buoys of summer.

They won't last.

[edhopper]

5. how much enviornmental damage

will they cause?

[Shipwack]

8. 5.1 Billion?

Let's see...

Electrical grid that goes down in a stiff wind (and is way over priced).

More than triple the national maternal childbirth mortality rate (72.7 deaths per 100,000 births).

Education underfunded (though we got cool football stadiums).

Real estate prices out of reach of many.

Property taxes rising.

Mass shootings through the roof.

Sure, buy some buoys... The fight against "Drag Queen Story Hour" must be getting dull...

Every day I regret coming to this state a little bit more, but I can't leave now...

[Skittles]

14. heaven forbid they actually use money to help those folk

you know, seeing how they're all "Christian" and "pro-life"

[ificandream]

10. Does he think people don't know how to swim?

[Wounded Bear]

12. River is fordable in many places, especially in summer/late fall...

Not a really good moat. I have no idea what he means by "buoys." As stated above, sounds like another contractor scam.

[KPN]

23. Watch the video -- you'll see the buoys. Looks more like a long flexible bladder that bisects the

Rio Grande River along its length.

[marybourg]

11. I hope they plan on applying for a permit from the

Army Corps of Engineers since, unless there’s some superseding case or statutory law ( I’m not doing the research) at least a good part of the Rio Grand is a “navigable water of the United States” subject to the jurisdiction of the Corps. I’m sure the Gov. and the legislature know this.



https://www.swf.usace.army.mil/Portals/47/docs/regulatory/NavList2011.pdf

[SouthernDem4ever]

16. I think you give him too much credit

Repugs aren't concerned with details, or even laws.

[airplaneman]

13. How about a moat with alligators n/t.

[lonely bird]

15. Sure

As long as it is for Abbott to try to cross.

[moniss]

17. The Rio Grande

is by definition "navigable waters" of the US and comes under Federal jurisdiction for what you can and cannot do in those waters. Placing large items like this in the river is subject to permits that have to be obtained from the Feds. The Feds and the relevant state agencies that are counterparts usually have Memorandums of Understanding etc. between them that requires the state to follow all Federal laws/regulations etc. while leaving most of the day to day administration to the state agencies. This is applicable to basically all operations with respect to environmental matters. It's also done for other matters as well. In other words the Feds are like the overseers and the states do the implementation. They involve each other to greater or lesser degrees as needed but the principle is bedrock policy for Federal and state administration of these matters.

When a state commits a gross violation of that MOU/A then they are subject to losing federal funding, which is considerable, having all projects halted and having large penalties levied. So Abbott is risking losing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for agency operations and for project funding. Obviously the Feds don't want to spend that kind of money with a state/agencies who don''t hold up to their agreements about compliance with regulations and laws.

Putting projects on hold can greatly escalate the cost of completing those projects due to things like the costs to "mothball" existing work so that it doesn't deteriorate, paying for equipment storage, losing contractors to other work etc. Along with all of this is many more millions of dollars in engineering costs for development of plans to "mothball" the projects and to inspect them and resurrect them once, and if, the project is allowed to move forward.

[KPN]

24. It's Texas. Federal regulations/law are irrelevant there.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. Target practice for drug cartel goons.

If those stupid things are inflated buoys, they won't last long and the first hurricane that comes through will take them all to Kansas.

I predict they won't last as log as TFG's steel scrapyard border fence.

Just another tax payer-funded campaign contribution for Republicans.


KY........:

[kaotikross]

19. Can't they just swim underneath them?

Maybe they have nets hanging, still a dumb idea. All it will take is a story about how a couple of migrants (especially kids) got tangled in a net and drowned. Leave ti to the GQP to think of the worst possible solution.

[joshdawg]

20. and the stupidity of abbott rears its ugly head once again.

abbott: undoubtedly the absolute worst "governor" the state of Texas has ever had.......and that includes perry and bush.

[yankee87]

21. Grifting?

I’m willing to bet all that money went to one of his buddies who just happens to sell these buoys.
Also, a pretty dumb idea.

[Historic NY]

22. Migrants got a large foothole in Texas because of the border wall

Picture of the tents etc.

[link:https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/09/20/texas-golf-course-had-no-chance-stuck-behind-border-wall/681415001/|]

[link:|]

[TXPaganBanker]

25. I seem to recall that the northern shore of the Rio Grande

is the official border between the United States and Mexico. Officially, he'll be deploying these in Mexico. I wonder what another sovereign nation has to say about us building anti-personnel barriers in their territory.

[Igel]

28. You mis-remember.

The border is the thalweg of the Rio Grande.

I learned a new word today (and promptly upon seeing the definition realized it's a German compound "Thal" + "Weg&quot

thalweg
täl′vĕg
noun
The line defining the lowest points along the length of a river bed or valley.
A subterranean stream.
A line upon a topographical surface which is a natural watercourse, having everywhere the direction of greatest slope, and distinguished by having the lines of straight horizontal projection which cut it at right angles on the upper sides of the curves of equal elevation to which they are tangent.

(Courtesy of whatever source Google decided to present.)

[Doc_Technical]

26. The Buoys