Cemex Won’t Build Border Wall
September 18th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Cemex, the largest concrete company in the United States, won’t be providing any of its concrete to build the controversial 18-foot border wall.
Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice issues with the Government Accountability Office, told congressional members today that the price of the border-levee wall in Hidalgo County has increased significantly. The increase is due to the rising costs of labor, fuel and concrete.
Stana said the decision by Cemex, a Monterrey, Mexico-based company, not to provide concrete will make building the border wall more expensive. Cemex is the world’s largest supplier of building supplies and it has extensive cement plants in the United States and around the world.
During a House Homeland Security Committee meeting today, Stana explained to the committee that the cement must be brought in from Houston or as far away as Colorado. He didn’t say why Cemex wouldn’t provide the concrete, and phone calls to the company’s offices in Monterrey and Houston were not returned.
“The price of concrete has gone up tremendously,” he told the committee.”Cemex won’t sell to the fencing projects in the United States.”
The controversial 22-mile border-levee wall is currently under construction near Granjeno just west of McAllen. Residents in the area have been vocal about their opposition to building a border wall. They are also opposed to digging up the levees during the height of hurricane season and to the environmental damage the wall will cause.
The original estimate to build the border-levee wall was $113.9 million — $65.7 million of which will be provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Hidalgo County will pay the other $48.2 million. Stana did not say what the increased costs for construction would add up to. Dannenbaum Engineering, which is building the levee-wall, announced in August that instead of finishing the construction in December as planned, it will need until March 2009 to complete the levee-wall.
September 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
[…] the largest cement company in the country tell Homeland Sercurity to screw itself: Priceless! Cemex, the largest concrete company in the United States, won’t be providing any of its concrete […]
September 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Priceless is the word, CEMEX does great things for conservation world wide, the El Carmen Project which spans the international border from Coahuila, Mexico to western Texas is involved in restoration of native grasslands, restoration of native wildlife, with species such as the desert bighorn sheep. they also have a large black bear research project, and are working internationally with Mexico and Texas on Transboundary Conservation, excellent example of private conrporation involved in large scale conservation that has the vision of what such a wall will do to wildlife that cross borders….
September 21st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
[…] “the largest cement company in the country tells Homeland Security to screw itself“ […]
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 pm
There’s doubtless going to be some redneck-run company in Houston that’ll toss in the concrete for free just to get rid of all them eelegles.