Crews blasting hill in Organ Pipe National Monument to make way for border wall

[DesertRat]

A historically significant area is going to be irreparably changed forever.

Construction crews are blasting a hill on Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to make way for the border wall.
The blasting is taking place on Monument Hill, just to the west of the port of entry in Lukeville, a small border town 150 miles southwest of Tucson. Contractors are building the 30-foot-tall steel wall on the side of the hill as part of a 43-mile project on Organ Pipe and the adjacent Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

The Trump administration waived dozens of laws, including those meant to protect the environment, for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The blasting on Monument Hill drew a swift rebuke from U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat whose district includes Organ Pipe.

DHS is “bulldozing through numerous sacred sites of the Tohono O’odham Nation — including Monument Hill,” Grijalva said in a prepared statement.

https://tucson.com/news/local/crews-blasting-hill-in-organ-pipe-monument-to-make-way/article_a252b7b0-72a8-5afe-99bf-07a2f29a4647.html