BrianGarst.com

No matter your position on enforcement of the US border, this report should demonstrate how ineffective government is, as a general principle, at executing the tasks it chooses to take on:

Several White House agencies charged with enforcing environmental laws are preventing thousands of Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico border from disrupting illicit trafficking operations, according to a study by the investigative arm of Congress.

The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that about 15 percent of the 26 Border Patrol stations in the southwestern region say the Interior Department and the Agriculture Department have prevented them from catching illegal aliens coming over the border.

…Under federal law, before Border Patrol agents can build roads or establish surveillance posts on this land, they must first receive permission from the land managing agencies. This process can take months while the land management agencies conduct tests to ensure the environmental safety of the land and its species, the GAO report said, resulting in the souring of actionable intelligence with the ranks of the Border Patrol.

Environmental law is a convoluted mess unparalleled in its ability to produce bureaucratic red-tape. We’re getting to the point where one can hardly take a step without first clearing it with four different agencies, conducting three environmental impact reports, defending against two lawsuits from environmental groups, and then after all that, learning that there’s some endangered partridge in a pear tree that will prevent you from proceeding. The weight of our excessive bureaucracy is dragging all aspects of government and society down.

Environmental Protection Agency environmentalists