Border Fence Shuts Out U.S. Steelworkers, Threatens Environment

by James Parks, Oct 23, 2007

A section of the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border was made with pipe from China.
Steelworker Mickey Bolt

Once again, the Bush administration is sending work overseas that could be done here and ignoring laws that get in the way of what it wants to accomplish.

This time it’s the $1.2 billion, 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that’s supposed to make us more secure. Seems part of the fence is made out of pipes from China, and it’s being built in a way that’s jeopardizing one of the world’s top natural wonders.

Members of the Congressional Steel Caucus, who represent districts where the steel industry is struggling, condemned the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for using Chinese-made pipe when U.S. companies could do the job.  

Says Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), chairman of the Steel Caucus:

The Chinese can’t make safe toys, and this is the national security infrastructure.

The contractor submitted the price based on using foreign material and was just hoping that the government wouldn’t check closely. If government inspectors couldn’t see this, then they must need a seeing-eye dog.

It’s a shame you don’t have the government looking out for American industry and the American worker.

Wheatland Tube closed its Sharon pipe plant a year ago, citing illegally dumped Chinese pipe imports as the main culprit. Chinese imports of steel tube, pipe and fittings products will reach about 3.9 million tons this year, making up some 30 percent of the U.S. market.

English says the use of Chinese pipes is “outrageous”: 

At a time when pipe and tube plants in my district are being shuttered, it is outrageous that the tax dollars of those people are going to put Chinese pipe into an American fence….It will take more than a coat of whitewash to clear away this outrageous mistake.

In June, the USW and six U.S. pipe companies filed an anti-dumping complaint against illegal imports of China pipe. Two years ago, Bush rejected a trade petition to place tariffs on Chinese pipe imports flooding into the United States.

Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) says buying Chinese pipe sends the wrong message to U.S. workers and businesses.

Steel companies across the country are struggling because of China’s unfair trade practices. The administration should not reward China’s flagrant disregard for U.S. trade law by making deals with Chinese steel pipe manufacturers. Instead, our federal government should put American companies and their workers first.

Meanwhile, Think Progress today points out that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is ignoring court orders and concern for the environment to build the fence. He waived several environmental laws yesterday to continue building the border fence through a national conservation area in Arizona.

A federal judge halted construction of the fence Oct. 10 after finding the government had failed to carry out the required environmental assessment. Sean Sullivan of a southeastern Arizona branch of the Sierra Club, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement:

We can secure our borders while we protect our public lands. Bulldozing the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and our important environmental protections is not necessary to manage the border.

The San Pedro River is one of the last free-flowing rivers in the southwestern United States. The conservation area through which it runs is one of America’s most unique and biologically diverse areas. The San Pedro region has been designated as a World Heritage Natural Area by the U.N. World Heritage program. Some 250 species of migratory birds have been recorded in the area, which led to its designation as a Globally Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy and the international Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

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