Environmentalists file Texas lawsuit over wall plans

HOUSTON — Environmental groups filed another lawsuit Thursday challenging the Trump administration’s use of waivers to speed up construction of a border wall, this time in Texas.

Three groups sued the Department of Homeland Security, a week after the agency waived environmental laws along a roughly 25-mile stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley, which is the southernmost point of Texas.

Lawsuits have been filed to try to stop construction in California and New Mexico. So far, no judges have stopped DHS from moving forward with construction, though a federal appeals court in California heard arguments in that state’s case in August.

In Texas, the government wants to connect existing sections of fencing on river levees in Hidalgo County and to close other gaps in fencing in neighboring Cameron County. It argues that more barriers are necessary to stop the flow of drugs and immigrants.

Environmental groups say DHS is wrongly using authority that it received in 2005 for specific projects to waive reviews under more than two dozen laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Jean Su, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that when the previous border fence was built, Congress directly gave DHS the authority to issue waivers. But that waiver authority was not meant to carry over automatically for future projects, she said.