EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Discussions on the future of the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) port of entry continue on Wednesday, June 26, at the Hilos de Plata Senior Center in South-Central El Paso.
The General Services Administration (GSA), who’s at the front of the BOTA modernization project, is set to present the community with the final options to be considered:
No action
Viable Action Alternative 1A- multi-level modernization (high/low booths) primarily within existing port boundaries with minor land acquisition immediately adjacent to the port and additional land acquisition to the east (13 acres). No El Paso County land to be acquired.
Viable Action Alternative 4- multi-level modernization within the existing port boundaries with minor land acquisition immediately adjacent to the port and elimination of commercial cargo operations. No El Paso County or TxDOT DPS land to be acquired.
Community leaders and residents of the areas near the port of entry have long been fighting to push for the removal of commercial traffic from the port of entry due to the unhealthy impact of emissions from semi-trucks sitting idly for hours at the bridge.
“There’s a disconnect between those that are planning for a community and the community that is affected by those plans,” said Cemelli Aztlan, a community organizer for the Familias Unidas del Chamizal advocate group.
“We are a very vulnerable community that has been exploited and polluted upon for a long time. We’re in the 99th percentile when we talk about cancer toxins, diesel pollution,” she said.
Aztlan said it has taken a strong push from residents and the involvement of other federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the GSA to begin considering the challenges nearby residents have faced.
“When we began this process, there wasn’t an option to get the trucks out, which ironically, that’s what the money was for, to eliminate or reduce emissions. And so the fact that that wasn’t a consideration until we stepped in, I think shows that they really weren’t considering the public health crisis that we’re experiencing,” said Aztlan.
The community meeting will be held from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., and Familias Unidas del Chamizal will be present at the center to protest for the removal of commercial trucks at 5 p.m.
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