The Trump administration ordered construction crews to stop drilling industrial wells in New Mexico, currently in the throes of a drought, after local farmers complained it could put them out of business.
The construction of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has been one of President Donald Trump’s main priorities since he launched his first presidential campaign, and in his second administration, he secured $46 billion in federal funding to complete it. Construction crews building the wall, from Caddell Construction Co. and Fisher Industries, overseen by Customs and Border Protection, are reliant on water to mix concrete, which is in turn used for roads, dust suppression, and the wall itself. Construction crews had sourced water locally until a stop order from the White House, which came in response to local cattle ranchers who warned that the amount of water being taken was unsustainable.
Recommended Stories
“It would put us in an immediate catastrophe and having to do something with our livestock. I mean, it could potentially put some people out of business, us included,” Russell Johnson, a cattle rancher whose property runs along the border, told the Associated Press.
Johnson clarified that he’s a former Border Patrol agent and supports the border wall, citing the huge decline in illegal border crossings since it went up, and only objects to its water sourcing.
In Johnson’s case, he said at a public meeting in July that drilling crews drilled an industrial well on his leased grazing land, which was pumping 300 gallons of water a minute, compared to the 3 to 7 gallons his 12 wells cumulatively pump.
The pressure pushed CBP to back down, and it said in a statement that it ordered its border wall contractors to stop drilling new wells and that it was “committed to working collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs.”
The statement was a step up from last month, when the agency had acknowledged the issue but been noncommittal.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is actively monitoring contractors’ groundwater use at each well and is coordinating with the State of New Mexico and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a broader groundwater management strategy. CBP’s goal is to minimize water use and to work collaboratively with local landowners to ensure that construction activities do not adversely impact their water needs,” the July statement said.
TRUMP IS BUILDING A ‘SMART WALL’ ON BORDER. HERE’S WHAT THAT MEANS
During the first Trump administration, border wall construction crews had bought water that had already been pumped from local sources.
The issue of drilling wells for water for use on the border wall has endured for months, largely in the form of disputes over jurisdiction. The New Mexico Office of the State Engineer has claimed that at least eight wells have been drilled along the southern border without its permission.
