Environmental groups and park advocates are pushing back on the Trump administration’s plan to bulldoze a road through Big Bend National Park in Texas to support border protection.
The planned road would extend over Mariscal Mountain inside an area the National Park Service has previously recommended as potential wilderness, but the Department of Homeland Security has argued the road is needed as part of a broader effort to decrease illegal border crossings along the Mexico-U.S. border.
The department secured waivers from the federal government to circumvent environmental and historical property reviews that could slow construction of the road and other infrastructure.
The Sierra Club said Thursday that the Big Bend road construction represents the first use of Trump’s border waivers to allow activity within a national park.
