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Three cities depend on one canal near Santa Ana, and the district says money can't replace it
The fight over border wall construction at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge now includes the U.S. government. On Sept. 14, Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2 added the United States as a defendant in its lawsuit against Spencer Construction and Royal Concrete, the two companies building the wall, the Texas Observer reported on Wednesday. Construction has been halted since July while litigation continues.
- The district is arguing that money cannot repair harm to irrigation equipment or replace lost water service that “would be catastrophic” for its customers and “cannot be remedied.”
- The suit says the canal carries water from the Rio Grande and is the only water source for Pharr, San Juan and Alamo.
“The harm Plaintiff will suffer is irreparable because damage to irrigation infrastructure, interference with public water management operations, and unauthorized alteration of Plaintiff’s Property cannot be adequately compensated solely through monetary damages,” according to the filing, as quoted by the Texas Observer. “Furthermore, the potential disruption or loss of water service to Plaintiff’s customers also cannot be fully compensated by damages. Plaintiff’s customers [sic] loss of water would be catastrophic and cannot be remedied.”
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Rep. Cuellar wants the old protections back in the next funding bill
Spending bills from previous fiscal years prohibited border wall construction through Santa Ana and other important sites in the Rio Grande Valley. Rep. Henry Cuellar is now trying to exempt Santa Ana, along with other Rio Grande Valley sites like La Lomita Chapel, from border wall construction in the next round of funding bills.
- The current Trump administration has funded the wall through bills that carry no such restrictions.
- Cuellar wants to prohibit border wall construction at the sites with both types of bills the Trump Administration could use to fund the wall.
“They’re trying to beat the clock, in my opinion,” Cuellar told The Texas Observer, in reference to the Republican Party. “And the more time the local folks can give us through lawsuits or whatever way to delay it—so we can at least get into December and hopefully have a shot at trying to pass the appropriation bill with this appropriate language—that will pretty much stop them [in] their tracks.”
You can read more details about the Santa Ana border wall case in the full Texas Observer story.
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