All of Arizona’s waterbodies, other than the Colorado and Santa Cruz Rivers and a stretch of the Gila River, will lose their federal protection under the Clean Water Act (CWA) on June 22, 2020. How could this happen? It turns out that only bodies of water meeting the c...

Trump’s border wall, if completed, will bisect North America from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The wall may slow down (but won’t stop) unauthorized border crossers, and it comes at a high price: the damage of public and private lands, destruction of border...

FRIENDS OF THE SONORAN DESERT (FSD) is the only national non-governmental organization to regularly participate in quarterly meetings with representatives from federal and state agencies and local wildlife organizations to review and provide oversight for their program...

Excessive groundwater pumping is depleting rivers and streams across the U.S. In the arid southwest, it is particularly important that our desert aquifers are managed wiselyl. A new border wall is planned close to Quitobaquito Springs in the Organ Pipe Cactus National...

"Operation Faithful Patriot." Have you heard of it? On the eve of the mid-term elections, our president has authorized the deployment of 15,000 troops to our southern border to “protect” us from a group of Central American migrants walking to the United States to ask f...

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the “Magna Carta” of environmental legislation in the U.S. NEPA does two important things: it informs decision makers about potential impacts of government projects (and all reasonable alternatives to these projects), and...

We have now written 48 blogs—one for each of the federal laws waived to expedite construction of an impenetrable wall on our southern border. The Department of Homeland Security has waived laws that protect us from water, air, and hazardous waste pollution. Laws that p...

In 1999, the U.S. Congress passed the Mt. Otay Wilderness Act (MOWA), which designated 18,500 acres around Mt. Otay in Southern California as a wilderness area. This rugged wilderness in the San Ysidro Mountains near the Mexican border emerged from ancient volcanoes, a...

Every year, federal laws are passed that authorize the annual budget of federal agencies. The annual  National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes expenditures for the Department of Defense. Within authorization bills such as the NDAA, there may be provisions w...

The U.S. Military uses remote areas for training exercises and other activities that are best executed at a distance from the general population. Because military installations are both remote and protected from development, they are often located in areas that contain...