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Subject: FW: Border Fence NewsClips, 24 Feb
Date: Sunday, February 24, 2008 10:14:13 AM

Good morning.

I thought the article below has good quotes from Cascos acknowledging their responsibility.

I also liked the reference to Whataburger.

Cascos hopes levee-fence plan will work in Cameron County

By Kevin Sieff/The Brownsville Herald

2008-02-23 00:00:00
Two weeks after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff endorsed plans to
enhance levees along the Rio Grande, eliminating the need for miles of border fencing in
Hidalgo County, a similar proposal is now in the works in Cameron County.

County Judge Carlos H. Cascos met with Cameron County mayors and commissioners on
Thursday to discuss the feasibility of a levee restoration project from Brownsville to La
Feria. Cascos is adamant that the proposal, which he has championed for months, is the
county’s only viable alternative to a border fence. But he is facing opposition from both local
politicians and residents, who decry the proposal’s $50 million price tag and its potential
affects on wildlife and land along the border.

Cascos claims the issue is more than a question of avoiding the construction of a fence along
the river. “If we don’t do anything,” he said, “we might be under water eventually.”

“(Chertoff) said he would work with us, but we have to come to the table. We have to raise
the money.”

In Hidalgo County, DHS has agreed to contribute $3 million per mile, while the county will
pitch in $2.1 per mile million under the expectation that that money will eventually be
reimbursed from federal coffers. Before the reimbursement, though, the county will have to
pay more than $44 million to complete the project.

“I can’t force any entity to pony up money,” Cascos said. “But the three percent tax increase
would be the equivalent of a $20-per-year increase on a $60,000 home — it’s a couple of
outings to Whataburger”

But for County Commissioner John Wood, the price tag is only a part of what makes the
proposal problematic. “I think there are a lot of unanswered questions,” Wood said. Wood
enumerated environmental concerns, the possibility that stretches of county land will be
isolated by the levees, and the risk of creating a bottleneck on the river.

“As long as the Mexican levee is lower, where is the water going to go?” Wood added. “We
would just be pushing the water into Mexico.”
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Wood suggests that the only viable alternative to the fence is a “virtual fence,” secured with
cameras and sensors.

Hidalgo County voters passed a $100 million bond in 2006 in order to prevent the Federal
Emergency Management Agency from declaring miles of its levees unsound. The package
included $40 million to repair the most dilapidated portions — a sum that will now help to
build 22 miles of levees that will double as a retaining wall.

Because Cameron County approved no such bond, Cascos is expecting it to be difficult to

raise the necessary $50 million — especially in smaller cities along the border.

“We have to look at this county-wide,” he said. “We’re not going to stop the process because
one entity can’t pony up.”

Cascos will be speaking to elected officials in Cameron County and in Washington, D.C.
over the next few weeks. He has set a self-imposed deadline for the end of March — an
indication, he said, of just how urgent the issue is.