Officials: border fence would hurt levees

MERCEDES — If built atop or near the Rio Grande Valley’s levees, a border fence could impede maintenance work on the system and obstruct the region’s floodways, officials from the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission speculated at a meeting Wednesday.

To maintain 270 miles of levees along the Rio Grande and its floodways, IBWC regularly mows brush in the floodway and repairs and resurfaces them with caliche, said Rick Reyes, manager for IBWC’s Rio Grande Flood Control Project, at a meeting of the Lower Rio Grande Citizens’ Forum.

A fence on the levee system could affect workers’ ability to perform that maintenance, although it’s tough to say what will happen, he said.

“It would be good if the fence were on the outside of the levees instead,” Reyes said.

Officials with the Valley’s wildlife refuges also are concerned about the possibility of raising the fence near the levees, said Bryan Winton, manager of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Winton said that U.S. Border Patrol representatives have suggested to refuge officials that the fence be built on the north side of the levees, from Peñitas to Brownsville.

Winton said he wonders if the levees would end up moved to accommodate the fence.

“We hope (the fence) will be 20 to 30 feet away from the levee … we hope it won’t cause the levee to be moved toward the refuge,” he said.

IBWC officials have protested that building a border fence on the levees could violate a 1970 binational treaty, which prohibits any construction along the levees that would obstruct water flow on either side.

“We have submitted our concerns in writing,” said IBWC spokeswoman Sally Spener.

The region’s levee system still needs major upgrades, officials have said.

IBWC recently signed an agreement with Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1 to rehabilitate a levee near Mission using bond funds. The commission is waiting on a hoped-for $5 million in federal funds for fiscal year 2008 to start work on two other levees, Spener said.

The total levee improvement project carries a price tag of about $125 million, officials say.

Community members in attendance at the meeting said they were worried about the border fence’s impact on the levee system.

“It would foul up the water flow, it would foul up the wildlife corridor,” said Joe Tucker, a retired IBWC engineer.

Tucker said he found it ironic that federal funds are slow to arrive for levee repairs, but quick to arrive for the border fence.

“They’ve got plenty of money for the fence — more than they have for raising the levees,” he said.

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Melissa McEver covers health and environment issues for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Harlingen and you can reach her at (956) 430-6252. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com