Although work on a portion of a U.S./Mexico border wall in Arizona was scheduled to start by late August, that project may now not officially launch until October.
As planned, the border project going through the the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, would see the construction of 40 miles of bollard wall.
That wall, comprised of steel posts filled with concrete, would measure at least 30 feet in height.
But a lawsuit filed against the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with building the wall, is charging that that structure would be a threat to endangered species in the area.
That lawsuit has been filed jointly by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Defenders of Wildlife.
According to a Homeland Security filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the new border wall construction will most likely be divided into three parts, with work on a two-mile segment in the Organ Pipe National Monument starting first.
A construction schedule for the other portions of the project has not yet been announced.
Depending upon what the U.S. District Court rules, construction on that first segment of that wall could begin next month.
By Garry Boulard
