An official with the Sierra Club in Arizona says a transfer of hundreds of acres of border land for border security purposes is harmful to the environment and military families.
On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior transferred land to the Department of the Army for 70 miles of border security.
Much of the land includes the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
Dan Millis is the borderlands program manager for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. Millis told KAWC the land transfer is bad for the environment.
“Why are we wasting money in this way?" he said. "Why are we damaging these public lands? We saw that in Organ Pipe there are a number of archeological sites that are in danger of being destroyed by these new walls and Cabeza Prieta is right next door so we know that they’re going to be in a similar situation.”
The transfer would make it possible for the continued use of money from deferred military projects to build border fencing.