Friday, September 04, 2020

The Wall Will Fall

Not because wild-eyed communist anarchists have attacked it, but because it was shoddily built. That is what an engineering report will say about a portion of the 'Wall of Shame' built with private funds.[photo credit: The Texas Tribune] The three mile stretch of wall along the Rio Grande is in danger of falling due to erosion. The report will be filed in a federal lawsuit against a North Dakota firm, Fisher Sand & Gravel, which has political ties to the regime. The non-profit at the heart of the mess is We Build the Wall that raised $25 million to build a wall Mexico was supposed to fund. Former political wizard for the Heel, Steve Bannon, has been indicted for embezzling money from the nonprofit to pay personal expenses, along with Brian Kolfage, founder, and two others.

CEO Tommy Fischer called his portion of the wall the "Lamborghini" of border walls. Professor of engineering at University of Texas, El Paso, Alex Mayer, said, “It seems like they are cutting corners everywhere. It’s not a Lamborghini, it’s a $500 used car” The regime has awarded Fisher Sand & Gravel about $2 billion in federal contracts to build segments of the border wall. Environmental experts have testified that the wall segment near the river will not withstand flooding due to extensive erosion, much of it caused by Hurricane Hanna. The wall segment will face repeated erosion problems due to the sandy soil close to the river's banks. Iin some areas there are gaps up to three feet wide and waist deep, concrete cracking, and construction flaws that one consultant concluded was likely substandard construction material below the fence’s foundation.


The consultant's conclusion: “The geography at the wall’s construction location in comparison to the river bend is not at a favorable location for long-term performance.” In other words, the "beautiful wall" is in danger of falling down. When asked about the negative evaluations, Fischer replied, "It's a hit piece."
Fischer appears frequently on Fox News, where he caught Orange Julius' attention. His political donations to North Dakota's Repugnant senator Kevin Cramer also helped his company obtain a lucrative contract ($400 million) to build portions of the border wall. That contract is being audited for undue political influence. Previous government construction in the area has been atop levees in an attempt to avoid the problems encountered by Fischer's company.  In some places the proposed federal border has left isolated patches of farm land in a kind of no-man's land between the barrier and the actual, geopolitical borderline--an imaginary line in the middle of the river. [map above]  When the government builds border fencing, it must meet a long list of requirements, including public meetings and stewardship plans; in contrast, Fisher's folly went up in weeks, and it shows.

Not only is the engineering and planned maintenance inadequate from an engineering standpoint, Fischer's wall may violate an international treaty with Mexico. The two countries manage the Rio Grande floodplain jointly under the agreement through the IBWC, the International Boundary and Water Commission. Mexican members of the commission have said the private wall along the riverbank could obstruct the river’s flow or be knocked down by the force of water and alter the river's course in violation of the treaty. A former Army Corps of Engineer hydrologist told reporters, “You are putting in an obstruction, a barrier, in the middle of the floodplain of a major river that has a levee back away from it. It’s important they get it right, and they clearly did not get it right.” The graft never stops under Der Heel.

 What's in it for me?