Trump wants to reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison: ‘For the most cruel offenders!’
Former infamous prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay has been a tourist destination for over 50 years. US President Donald Trump wants to give him back his original purpose, but that may not be so easy. Specifically, Donald Trump’s plans for construction in the Federal State of Caliphorinia could be sentenced to failure or at least a long wait for the strict regulations there.
On Sunday, the president announced in a social network post that he would order a closed office and the FBI to renovate and reope Alcatraz to « place » the most cruel and most existent American offenders there. «
But if Trump wants to get that prison, the office will first have to get a number of ecological permissions, including those from the National Environmental Protection and California Law on Environmental Law (CEQA).
Ceqa requires that investors of measures to be able to harm the environment, to all from wildlife to water resources, and show how to alleviate these influences. Often groups that want to block the project will initiate a lawsuit by invoking CEQA, claiming that the applicant’s environmental report has not met the terms. There are several major environmental obstacles that the new prison on Alcatraz must overcome.
Water birds
Several types of water birds nest on alcatraz throughout the year. These include Western Seagull, Cormoran and Guillemota pigeon, which are protected by the migratory birds. Parts of the island are closed during the seafood mating season.
Contractors on the reconstruction of the Alcatraz historical prison must regularly pause the construction or work around the mating season of these birds, said historian John Martini. Some parts of the island are closed most of the year for the public so that birds can nest. Even the organizers of the triathlon Escape from Alcatraz are obliged to state in their permission that swimming participants will not have a significant impact on birds.
Alcatraz also has historical status. The island was added to the National Register of Historical Sites in 1976, and in 1986 it was proclaimed a national historical monument. The Law on the Preservation of National Historical Heritage requires federal agencies to minimize the damage to national historical sites when taking over the projects that would influence them.
Historical resources are also recognized as part of the environment towards CEQA. If the project receives an approval for environmental protection, it is possible that it will not be until the end of Trump’s mandate.
Other projects on the island
National Parks (NPS) services began planning a new ferry dock on Alcatraz for visitors in 2015. It took almost two years for NPS to get an approvement for environmental protection, in part because the City of Sausalito complained of a project within the CEQA. The appeal sought to ensure that new ferries did not increase traffic around the Sausalita center.
It took a few more years to obtain approval from the city and port of San Francisco. The project should finally be completed this winter, even ten years later.
Even if the project underwent environmental approval, the new Alcatraz prison would be extremely difficult to build, Martini said.
– That island is a rock. No soil. No source of fresh water. When they built a prison in the 1910s, they had to bring everything, huge amounts of water mixing water, let alone what was needed to eat people living on the island – he said.
On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz was closed after 29 years of work because the institution was too expensive. All resources, including water, food and fuel on the island, had to be shipped by boat, and only water needed about 4 million liters a week. The Federal Government has found that it is more profitable to build a new institution than to maintain Alcatraz openly open, according to the pages of the United States Close Office.
