Scott Nicol, Sierra Club Borderlands Team chair and LRGV Sierra Club Conservation co-chair, will be speaking at the University of Texas Pan American on April 25 about the flood risks and environmental damage that will come with
new border walls slated for the Rio Grande floodplain. Through Freedom of Infomation Act requests Scott has uncovered documents showing that Customs and Border Protection plans to condemn private lands and take parts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to build these walls. For years the US section of the International Boundary and Water Commission rejected these walls as posing too great a flood hazard to communities on both sides of the river, but a year ago they caved in to pressure from CBP and approved walls in the floodplain.
At 6pm on April 25 the Sierra Club will screen the 20 minute film
Wild vs. Wall, followed by a discussion of the hazards posed by these
new walls. The event will occur at the UT Pan American Health Auditorium (HSHW 1.404), and is free and open to the public. You can see a campus map
here.
