Secretary Michael Chertoff waived environmental rules to clear the way for a border fence to be constructed along the Mexican border.
The move circumvented a series of laws, from the Endangered Species Act to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, outraging environmentalists.
Dr. Robin Silver, board chair of the environmental organization Center for Biological Diversity, called Chertoff's move on Friday "a historic travesty."
"Because they refuse to deal head-on with the economics of the immigration challenge, they're now taking a step to destroy the integrity of the central part of southern Arizona's desert," Silver said. "There's not a wall on earth that's going to stop a human in search of a minimum-wage job to feed his hungry family."
It was unclear when construction on 37 miles of traditional and virtual fencing would begin at the Air Force's training range in southwestern Arizona. The project also includes radar and other infrastructure, lighting, all-weather and drag roads, expected to cost in the neighborhood of $64 million.
Chertoff voided "environmental requirements and other legalities that have impeded the department's ability to construct fencing and deploy detection technology on the range," spokesman Russell Knocke said in Washington.
Knocke said small openings will be made in fencing to allow the flat-tailed horned lizard to continue crossing into Mexico.
The construction will be part of the Bush administration's overall Secure Border Initiative that calls for adding a mix of fencing, cameras and high-tech surveillance and communications, vehicle barriers and other features to diminish and deter illegal crossings along the Mexican border.
Arizona has been the epicenter for crossings by illegal immigrants for several years and authorities said last year nearly 8,600 people trying to enter the U.S. illegally were apprehended in the Barry M. Goldwater Range.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
related news on the fence below:
Texas Border Fence Foes Protest by Kayak
By LYNN BREZOSKY
Associated Press Writer
ROMA, Texas — Dozens of people paddled down the Rio Grande in kayaks and canoes Saturday to protest a border fence they say will do little to stop illegal immigration but will destroy the impoverished region's burgeoning bird-watching industry.
After their trip down the river, about 60 paddlers gathered with about 15 other people in an amphitheater, then held hands across the middle of the bridge to Miguel Aleman, Mexico. The protesters were mostly American but included the mayor of Miguel Aleman.
Activist opposed to the U.S.- Mexico border fence paddle to the bridge between Roma, Texas, and Ciudad Miguel Aleman, Mexico, as part of a rally Saturday, July 14, 2007, in Roma, Texas. About 60 people in canoes and kayaks were part of a flotilla that paddled down the Rio Grande from Fronton, Texas, to Roma, Texas. (AP Photo/San Antonio Express-News, Edward A. Ornelas)
Protesters claimed the fence will harm endangered wildcats, cut farmers off from water and hurt cross-border commerce.
"It's a Stone Age answer to a 21st-century problem," said John Martin, a 64-year-old retired investment broker from Edinburg. "Why spend $3.5 million a mile to tear out habitat we spent millions of dollars restoring?"
Nancy Brown, a spokeswoman for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge that could see a fence cutting through it, said Roma was chosen because it is the epicenter of a fence debate raging in deep South Texas.
Bird watchers worldwide know it as a spot to glimpse four birds seen only in Starr and neighboring Zapata County — the white-collared seedeater, red-billed pigeon, Audubon's oriole and black-throated sparrow. Roma, a city of about 10,000, has built a new birding center just a block from the river to help boost tourism.
It's here that National Guard members were spotted in April clearing brush for what residents learned was to be the first leg of construction for a border fence in the Rio Grande Valley. Riverfront landowners said Border Patrol agents told them the fence would extend along the river 2 1/2 miles in both directions from the ends of international bridges, including the one to Miguel Aleman.
Angry local politicians rallied their federal representatives, who got assurances from Michael Chertoff, homeland security secretary, that only preliminary surveying was under way, and that they would be consulted before any barriers went up.
But early in May, local leaders intercepted a map of about 153 miles of Texas fencing they hadn't been consulted on.
Border Patrol spokesman Mike Friel said that construction this fiscal year would be in California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and that decisions had not been made on the construction or location of the Texas fence. Homeland Security continues to seek local input, he said.
"I think our message is that we want to gain effective control of the border and also facilitate legitimate travel and trade," he said. "Our commitment is to ensuring that we meet those twin goals."
Under a bill President Bush signed last year, 700 miles of fencing is slated for the U.S.-Mexican border, of which the Homeland Security Department has said will include at least 370 miles of physical fence supplemented by a "virtual" barrier of sensors, mobile towers with cameras, agents and other technology.
Homeland Security officials say the fence is needed in urban areas where smugglers and illegal immigrants can quickly fade into the surroundings.
Bush has since said he would veto a bill that required officials to solicit input from communities about fencing. White House officials said that the government had already conducted extensive outreach and that the mandate would impede the securing of the border.
Nice to see you stopped by . The weather is awful here. I saw 2 whooping cranes and their young bird at the Crane Foundation in Baraboo July of 2007. They had about a dozen different types of cranes, some from the Orient. 
Happy Easter ! 
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