Federal officials have installed 500 border lights in the San Bernardino Valley and Wildlife Refuge, according to the Center for Biological Diversity study, though the lights are not currently operational.
Border officials plan to start using stadium-style border lighting, despite environmentalists pointing out earlier this week the numerous effects the lights would have on wildlife.
Customs and Border Protection will conduct a review of environmental impacts in order to install new lights on parts of the border wall as well as power on lights that were already installed during Trump-era border wall construction.
The border-enforcement agency’s announcement comes just days after the Center for Biological Diversity released a report counting about 1,800 stadium lights across 60 miles of protected lands on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.
The Center says 16 threatened and endangered species could be affected by the lighting in ways that include their ability to forage, mate, hunt, evade predators, and maintain sleep cycles and migration patterns. The Center urged federal officials to remove the lights or do a thorough environmental review of potential harms, which was originally waived when the lights were installed.
Border officials say they will do an environmental review under NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act and will obtain feedback from the public and other stakeholders.
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