Landowners Likely To Bring More Lawsuits As Trump Moves On Border Wall

[Elderberry]

NPR.org

John Burnett 2/26/2017

President Trump has promised to build a wall along the 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A third of that border already has a barrier, thanks to the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was signed by then-President George W. Bush. That initiative ran into issues with landowners near the Rio Grande. If the wall goes forward as Trump promises, more lawsuits may be coming.

Out on the Western border between the U.S. and Mexico, straight-line fencing cuts through public lands and big ranches. But down in South Texas, the imposing, rust-colored barrier runs into a thicket of private property rights.

Hundreds of irate landowners along the river have protested what they call a government land grab to install the controversial fence. Their cases landed before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville. He calls himself "the fence judge."

President Bush — who appointed Hanen — signed the law ordering the erection of 700 miles of physical barriers along the border.

Unlike the sparser population upriver, the lower Rio Grande Valley is dense with people and history. Some of the acreage goes back to Spanish land grants. To purchase property rights for the construction, Border Patrol had to contact landowners near the serpentine river. Most of them settled out of court, but other cases have gotten into the weeds.

Some landowners want more money. Some want a gate in the fence to be able to access their land on the other side. In other cases, Hanen says government lawyers ran into complex family trees.

[Excerpted]

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/23/516895052/landowners-likely-to-bring-more-lawsuits-as-trump-moves-on-border-wall

[Fishrrman]

Consider the source of this article: NPR.

For every landowner along the border who might object to the barrier, there are likely 4, 5 or more who will support it.

I sense much of the "opposition" will disappear in the face of a nice payout for the acquisition of the border property.

[Smokin Joe]

Consider the source of this article: NPR.

For every landowner along the border who might object to the barrier, there are likely 4, 5 or more who will support it.

I sense much of the "opposition" will disappear in the face of a nice payout for the acquisition of the border property.

If you are ranching cattle, getting the critters to water isn't optional. Stop water access, and you shut down the ranch. This problem has been predicted, but city folks just don't listen.

[Elderberry]

Non NPR Articles:


http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/categories/immigration/new-border-wall-could-land-more-property-lawsuits-in-judge-andrew-hanens-court/

http://kuow.org/post/new-border-wall-could-land-more-property-lawsuits-judge-andrew-hanens-court

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/why-trump-border-wall-won-easy-build-texas/nETzFp1Re8H3xpDllXiu4N/

http://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-history-and-future-hurdles-us-mexico-border-wall

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Trump-s-wall-has-many-in-the-Rio-Grande-Valley-10605357.php

[truth_seeker]

If you are ranching cattle, getting the critters to water isn't optional. Stop water access, and you shut down the ranch. This problem has been predicted, but city folks just don't listen.

I reckon somewhere in history, that problem has been dealt with successfully.

[Smokin Joe]

I reckon somewhere in history, that problem has been dealt with successfully.

Depends on who you are and what you consider "successful".

[Norm Lenhart]

If you are ranching cattle, getting the critters to water isn't optional. Stop water access, and you shut down the ranch. This problem has been predicted, but city folks just don't listen.

Irrigation is a trivial matter. Look up some areal shots along the Colorado river between Laughlin NV and Yuma AZ. There are lots of crops grown in the worst of the Mohave Desert with water piped miles and miles from the river.

If plants can make use of that water, I'm guessing cows can as well.

[Smokin Joe]

Irrigation is a trivial matter. Look up some areal shots along the Colorado river between Laughlin NV and Yuma AZ. There are lots of crops grown in the worst of the Mohave Desert with water piped miles and miles from the river.

If plants can make use of that water, I'm guessing cows can as well.

I'm not saying it can't work, but it is expensive to pipe water miles and miles. Keep in mind that any Federal land crossed will subject the person running the pipe to many of the same criteria for siting an oil and gas pipeline in terms of biological, cultural, archaeological, etc. surveys, EIS, the works. I have seen that used against ranchers here by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). God help you if you have one of those rare, threatened, or endangered things growing or living in there. Then you have all the problems/expense of maintaining a water system and pumps, which will require access to the river, anyway.

If you get enough money in the picture, anything can be done. But for now, you can let the herd walk to water, and that has worked for a long time.

As for 'trivial', "miles from water", consider used irrigation pipe runs 2 to 3 dollars a foot F.O.B. before it is set up and maintained. That does not include couplings or gaskets, and we both know a run on used piping will mean prices go up. This isn't a sprinkler system, it is a water pipeline to holding tanks. Most crops will do okay for 48 hours without a squirt, critters are more finnicky. Now that 2-3 dollars per foot might not seem like much, because many people think of ranches like the King Ranch or even Ted Turner's spread when they envision one, but for smaller operations absorbing costs gets more painful.
I don't know what sort of grazing density is considered 'normal' in South Texas, but that will affect how many miles of pipe are going to have to be run to replace just being able to let the cattle walk to water.
Out here, control the water, control the land. It has been that way since the first settlers appeared.
Anything can be done if you have enough money to throw at it, but for some folks, that dog won't hunt. Again, the little guy gets squeezed by the big gummint changes. I have seen that somewhere before.