Department of Homeland Security Will Skip Environmental Review for the Border Wall

According to an article by Elliot Spagat for the Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security is planning to move forward with construction on the Trump Administration's proposed border wall without undertaking environmental reviews.

Department of Homeland Security released a statement that the department will be publishing a notice exempting the project from the National Environmental Protection Act. A 2005 law gives the Department of Homeland Security the power to waive regulations, according to Spagat.

The proposed border wall is potentially momentum, though large legislative tests remain. The news about the waiver follows on the heels of news last week that the House of Representatives approved $1.6 billion in funding for the border wall as part of a "a national security-themed spending package," according to an article by Cristina Marcos and Niv Elis. That funding "fully meets Trump’s budget request," according to Marcos and Elis, making it "likely that Senate Democrats will block the spending package when it moves to the upper chamber." Planetizen also picked up news recently that border wall plans were moving quickly along on federal land in Texas.