Border Wall’s Environmental Review Waiver Draws New Lawsuit (1)

The Trump administration’s expedited approval of a 27-mile wall on the Arizona-Mexico border unlawfully evades environmental scrutiny, conservation groups said in a lawsuit looking to block further construction.

The Department of Homeland Security lacks the authority to waive environmental reviews for wall construction that includes bulldozing roads and installing surveillance equipment through a “critical movement corridor” for an endangered jaguar species, the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation CATalyst told the US District Court for the District of Arizona.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem violated constitutional separation of powers provisions when she invoked a waiver under the Illegal Immigration Reform and ...