Author Topic: SpaceX May Be New Barrier for Trump’s Border Wall  (Read 675 times)

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SpaceX May Be New Barrier for Trump’s Border Wall
« on: December 13, 2018, 08:51:13 pm »
NY Times By Ron Nixon and Mitchell Ferman 12/12/2018

Four years ago, Elon Musk, the brash, outspoken Silicon Valley entrepreneur, strolled into South Texas for the groundbreaking of a site for SpaceX, his private rocket company.

Joining Mr. Musk were Representative Filemon Vela, Democrat of Texas, and Rick Perry, who was governor of Texas at the time and is now President Trump’s energy secretary.

On that windy September day, the trio smiled and dug shovels into a mound of dirt in front of a large sign: “Future home of SpaceX’s South Texas launchpad.”

The rural tract of land that was supposed to be home to a commercial spaceport now stands in the path of Mr. Trump’s border wall. Mr. Musk is just one of the potentially hundreds of private landowners in Texas who would be disrupted by the president’s desire to build a “big, beautiful” wall.

The border wall was a signature campaign promise for Mr. Trump, but Democrats oppose it. Congress has said it would provide up to $1.6 billion for border security this year, but Mr. Trump wants $5 billion for his wall alone — and is now threatening to shut down the government without it.

Here is where things stand on Mr. Trump’s proposed wall.
So how much of the wall is already being built?

A year ago, the Trump administration unveiled wall prototypes at the border in San Diego in a $20 million showcase of imposing barriers stretching up to 30 feet high and made of steel bars, concrete slabs and metal spikes.

But construction still has not begun on a new wall — despite Mr. Trump’s repeated promises to build it along the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, at an estimated cost of $25 billion.

More: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/us/politics/trump-texas-border-wall-.html