Wall prototype: Tempebased
Fisher Sand & Gravel among 4 companies receiving contracts
Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. is selected as one of four companies to build prototypes of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, a step toward the president’s signature campaign promise. Fisher will build a 30-foot section in the San Diego area.
An Arizona company is among four selected to build and test prototypes of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, a step toward constructing President Donald Trump's “big, beautiful wall.”
On Thursday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that Tempebased Fisher Sand & Gravel Co. received a contract to build a 30-foot concrete prototype in the San Diego area.
“We are extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this important project,” company President Thomas Fisher said in a statement.
The company did not release details about its design.
However, CBP said the prototypes would be made of reinforced concrete, be 30 feet long and up to 30 feet tall, and incorporate see-through features.
Thursday's announcement means Arizona could have two companies working on border-wall prototypes. Scottsdalebased Dark Pulse Technologies also advanced to the next round of the bidding process. But the company did not reveal whether it is involved with any of the winning bids announced Thursday or additional contracts CBP will announce next week.
In addition to Fisher Sand & Gravel Co., the other three companies chosen to build and test concrete designs near San Diego are: Caddell Construction Co. of Montgomery, Alabama; Texas Sterling Construction Co. of Houston; and WG Yates and Sons Construction Co. of Philadelphia, Mississippi.
“The next step for these companies is to sit down and discuss timing and access and all of the kinds of things that get them ready to do construction,” CBP Deputy Commissioner Ronald Vitello said. “And then we will mutually agree on a date for them to proceed.”
Once the date has been chosen, the companies will have 30 days to build their prototypes. The structures will not be built on the U.S.-Mexico boundary, but rather several dozen feet away.
The location will allow CBP to access the prototypes from either side and test features, including those intended to thwart climbing, and “how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering,” Vitello said.
Officials displayed a rendering of how concrete fences might be used. It showed metal, see-through fencing on the border itself and a concrete fence further in on the U.S. side. The fences were separated by "an enforcement zone" for the Border Patrol.
The prototype contracts have a value of between $400,000 and $500,000 each, Vitello said. CBP already has the funds to move forward with their construction, unlike the actual border wall.
“This is the first tangible result of the action planning that has gone on,” he said. “This is the use of the resources that we have available for this year.”
Getting additional funding for borderwall construction will be difficult. House Republicans approved $1.6 billion for the wall, but the measure faces a tougher path in the Senate.
During a visit to Arizona last week, Trump said he's willing to shut down the government if he doesn't get the funds to build the wall.
Thursday’s announcement focused on the four companies selected to build concrete wall prototypes. Additional winning bidders for the other design category, alternate construction materials, will be announced next week.
The announcement was met with immediate resistance from environmental and government-watchdog groups. Among other things, they criticized the federal government's ability to waive federal environmental laws in order to build infrastructure along the border such as fencing and roads.
“Trump’s border-wall obsession is spinning out of control,” said Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the Tucsonbased Center for Biological Diversity.
The group has filed several lawsuits against the U.S. government, including legal challenges to the construction of wall prototypes in the San Diego area, arguing that the government has not done enough to demonstrate that they will protect endangered animals and the environment.
“These prototypes are the first step toward a wall that will endanger wildlife, as well as increase human suffering, sow division and become a monument to Trump’s hate and ignorance,” Segee added.
Government-watchdog group American Oversight criticized a lack of transparency on the costs associated with construction of a wall.
“President Trump — who famously pledged to force Mexico to pay for the wall — has threatened to shut down the federal government unless Congress agrees to have American taxpayers foot the bill,” senior adviser Melanie Sloan said in a written statement.
“Yet with the clock ticking, we still know appallingly little about how much the wall will cost, how it will be built, and what impact it will have on border communities across the Southwest,” she added. “Today’s announcement that the administration is barreling ahead with prototypes does nothing to reassure the tens of millions of Americans who will be affected.”
Even though construction of the wall prototypes will not exceed $8 million, according to CBP, estimates for a physical barrier along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border are harder to come by.
A leaked memo for the Department of Homeland Security in February said construction would cost approximately $22 billion. However, in their own report, Senate Democrats claimed that the number would be more than three times that amount.