Scientists warned Trump's wall would threaten endangered species. Officials ignored them
Stark warnings by federal scientists and wildlife experts about the grave threat posed by Donald Trump’s border wall to rare and endangered species were repeatedly ignored by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents seen by the Guardian.
A cache of emails obtained using the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) by environmental groups reveal multiple efforts over several months by experts at the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Arizona, to save rare desert springs and crystalline streams which provide the only US habitat for the endangered endemic Río Yaqui fish.
Even before Trump’s water-guzzling concrete barrier, the border region’s water reserves were depleted due to prolonged drought linked to the climate crisis. The expansion of water-intensive cash crops and urban growth have also drained aquifers in the arid region, leaving several endangered and threatened species wholly reliant on the freshwater ponds found in the refuge.
In an email sent last October, the long-serving refuge manager, Bill Radke, warned colleagues at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that the threat of groundwater depletion was a “dire emergency”.
It was around the same time that DHS contractors began pumping massive quantities of water from the aquifer relied upon by the refuge to mix concrete for construction of a 20-mile stretch of Trump’s 30ft-high border wall.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scientists-warned-trumps-wall-would-threaten-endangered-species-officials-ignored-them/ar-BB17UsIn?li=BBnb7Kz
= new reply since forum marked as read
Not to make light but I hope Bill Radke has another job lined up.
We all know what happens when you displease the Trumpenfuhrer.
