Conservationists say the 400-mile walls recently erected along the US-Mexico border are causing significant ecological damage and blocking migratory routes of threatened species.
“American Scar,” a film documenting the damage to desert landscapes, will be streamed online next week, followed by a panel discussion with the film’s director and producers. The short film examines the destruction caused in Arizona and elsewhere by the erection of steel barriers to prevent migrants and others from entering the country.
Myles Traphagen, Wildlands Network’s border areas coordinator, said the film aims to show how much damage has been done in sensitive areas of the region.
“This is aimed at people interested in border preservation and highlighting the damage that the construction of the border wall has caused to protected lands, waters and wildlife,” Traphagen explained.
Building the wall and making Mexico pay for it was one of Donald Trump’s key campaign promises in 2016, but billions of dollars later, fences only cover a small portion of the 1,800-mile barrier.
Traphagen pointed out that federal agencies erected the bulk of the fencing along the Arizona-northern Mexico border. He said most of the construction took place along protected federal lands such as wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
“Rainfalls are rare, there isn’t much surface water, so animals have historical migration routes going back tens of thousands of years,” Traphagen pointed out. “Now we have essentially cut off these historic watering and feeding grounds for a large number of species.”
Traphagen added that other panelists will include director and producer Daniel Lombroso and members of Wildlands Network, Cuenca Los Ojos and the Sky Island Alliance.
“They’re releasing it on April 30 because it’s been in the film industry like the Big Sky Film Festival, the DC Environmental Film Festival and a bunch of others,” Traphagen noted. “There will also be a written article to accompany the documentary.”
Disclosure: The Wildlands Network contributes to our fund for reporting on Endangered Species and Wildlife, Environment, Public Lands/Wildlife, and Urban Planning/Transportation. If you would like to support public interest messages, click here.
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Aside from providing shade and looking beautiful, experts say trees are an important element of livable communities.
Today marks the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, an annual national holiday recognizing the importance of trees.
Elizabeth Grace, director of city fundraising for Cleveland’s Western Reserve Land Conservancy, is working with local partners to increase the city’s canopy coverage from 18% to 30%. She explained that a healthy canopy offers myriad benefits, including improved air quality and lower energy bills.
“They actually reduce temperatures on hot days, which has a significant impact on underserved neighborhoods,” Grace noted. “They reduce stress and improve mental health. They actually reduce violence in communities. And recent studies have shown that more trees increase children’s IQs.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, this week announced new legislation dubbed the Neighborhood Trees Act of 2022. It aims to create more urban forests and reduce inequalities.
Research suggests that urban neighborhoods populated by people of color have a third less tree coverage than majority-white neighborhoods, and low-income neighborhoods have 41% fewer tree canopies than higher-income areas.
Tyler Stevenson, urban forestry program manager at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which helps hundreds of communities develop and manage urban forestry programs, said it’s a long-term process that will help limit conflict and reduce vulnerability to catastrophic included losses.
“Many of our communities are under pressure from development, pressure from invasive insects and disease, pressure from extreme weather,” Stevenson said. “But we have individuals in all of our communities who are committed to ensuring that all of our citizens across the community have adequate tree canopy equally.”
Stevenson added that 248 Ohio cities are now part of the Arbor Day Foundation
Tree City USA initiative. And today, communities celebrate Arbor Day with tree planting, seedling distribution, nature walks, and other events.
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Mountain Valley Pipeline developers are now allowed to dig tunnels under streams and wetlands, and environmental groups say they are concerned about the impact on wildlife and habitats.
The fate of the multistate natural gas pipeline remains uncertain after years of setbacks.
Lewis Freeman, executive director of the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance, said there was little scientific evidence to support the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent decision.
“The ecological effectiveness and integrity of drilling under so many streams and wetlands has not been demonstrated,” Freeman claimed. “In fact, even the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has raised many questions in its comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.”
In a written statement, the commission said the trenchless water crossing method will result in a lower environmental impact than the crossing method approved by the commission under the original proposal.
Originally estimated at around $3 billion, the pipeline’s budget has grown to over $6 billion.
Noting that the project faces numerous legal challenges related to its environmental impact, Freeman noted that the pipeline is several years behind schedule and subject to fines for hundreds of clean water protection violations must calculate millions.
“Even with this new approval of a new method of crossing creeks and wetlands, the project cannot move forward at this time until other matters are addressed,” Freeman said.
According to the Sierra Club, the project also faced a series of legal setbacks, including a ruling that overturned its permits to build the pipeline through 3.5 miles of land in the Jefferson National Forest. The US Army Corps of Engineers continues to deny approval for the project under the Endangered Species Act.
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The country’s 565,000 low-producing oil and gas wells — thousands of them in Texas — are responsible for about half of the methane emissions from all well sites in the United States, according to a new report published in Nature Communications.
These wells produce the equivalent of just 15 barrels per day while methane is a potent greenhouse gas responsible for over a quarter of current global warming.
Erandi Trevino from Houston is an organizer with Moms Clean Air Force. She said it’s important that the Environmental Protection Agency’s national oil and gas methane rules do more to address poorly producing sources to protect Texans’ health and climate.
“Harder summers, colder winters, wetter autumns,” Trevino said. “We need to come forward as residents, as community members – that we stand up for our own communities and make sure that’s a priority.”
The study concludes that low-production wells typically have 6 to 12 times more leaks than average and account for only 6% of US oil and gas production, leading to excess pollution. There are tens of thousands of these wells in Texas, producing a full quarter of the spilled methane.
Trevino said extreme weather events — which are occurring more frequently — can take an extreme toll on communities: financially, physically and spiritually.
Historically underserved communities can take longer to recover from major weather damage, and its long-term effects — such as mold from flooding — and catastrophic weather and ongoing pollution can leave lasting scars.
“It’s also about health,” said Trevino. “Many of our communities, particularly communities of color — low-income communities — face disproportionate levels of asthma and all manner of health problems that are aggravated or caused by pollution.”
At the national level, the Environmental Protection Agency is considering regulatory changes to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas.
The study’s lead author, Mark Omara, a scientist and senior analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the EPA’s current proposal omits many of these smaller wells.
But repairing the wells would more than cover the cost, because the gas these plants are releasing into the atmosphere is worth about $700 million a year, even at 2019 prices.
“Corroded pipes leaking, pressure relief valves that don’t work, thief hatches opened on tanks that keep venting,” Omara said. “And all of these problems can be fixed with regular monitoring and leak testing and repair.”
Disclosure: The Environmental Defense Fund makes contributions to our fund for reporting on energy policy, the environment, environmental justice and health issues. If you would like to support public interest messages, click here.
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