$309 million contract will put border wall through the middle of Arizona biodiversity hotspot

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived a host of environmental protection laws this month to fast-track border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico.

Fisher Sand & Gravel will get roughly $309 million to wall off some 27 miles of the San Rafael Valley. It’s a biodiversity hotspot that houses two international rivers and cross-border species like the jaguar.

The Department of Homeland Security says the money will come from a trough of border wall funds from 2021. The question of how those funds can be used has been the subject of litigation since then — the Biden administration attempted to use them on wall mitigation efforts but was blocked by a court order from a federal judge in Texas, who argued they must be used to build more mileage.

Erick Meza, borderlands coordinator with the Sierra Club, says Biden administration contractors also spent months fixing border wall infrastructure issues left over from the first Trump administration — including projects done by Fisher.

“What we know is that Fisher has been building segments of wall in multiple places before, and they claim to be the fastest,” he said. “It’s really scary because what we have seen especially coming from that firm is that construction projects are sloppy, really poorly done.”

Meza says his group and others plan to push for the inclusion of wildlife passages in the new wall during a public comment period that’s open ahead of construction breaking ground.

Fisher was awarded more than $2 billion in federal border wall contracts during President Donald Trump’s first term, according to records obtained by the accountability watchdog American Oversight. The company was also involved in We Build the Wall — a scheme headed by Trump advisor Steve Bannon that aimed to crowdfund wall construction on private borderland and was later deemed fraudulent.