By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

The nation will soon receive an update on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) next action to prevent the reintroduction of the New World screwworm into the United States.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins teased the announcement during a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday, June 11.

“I’ll have a major announcement next week on the very next step on putting the resources, the time and the effort into continuing to push it back,” Rollins said.

During the hearing, U.S. Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz of Texas asked the secretary to consider a sterile fly facility near Mission to combat the screwworms.

“I encourage you to consider a new sterilely facility here in the United States,” De La Cruz said. “Consider Moore Air Base in Hidalgo County as its potential site. Would that be something that you would consider?”

Rollins replied, “Yes. And we will be in touch on that very soon.”

De La Cruz told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network Moore Air Base would be good for a sterile fly facility because it’s already served as one.

“In the 1960s, Moore Air Base housed a sterile fly facility, and it helped successfully eradicate the screwworms. We already have the infrastructure in place. We know that it works. It was able to accomplish the job last time in the 1960s,” De La Cruz said. “We feel that it would be a great use of resources where we would not have to make as much of an investment as would into a new facility.”

De La Cruz isn’t the only lawmaker from Texas asking for a sterile fly facility in their district.

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales told the radio network he’s pitching a site in West Texas.

“One that makes a lot of sense to me is one in West Texas that is near the problem. That way we’re not relying on a foreign government to do its job,” Gonzales said. “It’s American made. These American made, American born flies are going out and making sure screwworms don’t come and wipe out our beef industry.”

Gonzales said USDA officials seem open to the idea.

“We’ve had regular conversations. The biggest obstacle is you’re not talking a small amount of money, right? You’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars. It requires a significant investment,” Gonzales said.

He is a member on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee and said he’s making the case there for the facility in Texas.

“This is a need not only for Texas but for other states,” Gonzales said. “It’s important to not only the beef industry but other industries, as well. In Texas in particular, we have a lot of exotic hunting and exotic animals. It doesn’t just knock out the ag industry. It knocks out other industries, as well.”

The congressman did not clarify where in West Texas he would like the facility to be located.

“I’m still working on the details. I’m still working with the administration on where’s the best spot, but in my eyes, Texas makes a lot of sense,” Gonzales said.

In the hearing Wednesday, Rollins did not clarify whether next week’s announcement would be a new sterile fly facility or other action to combat screwworms.

Currently, the only sterile fly facility is located in Panama. It’s jointly run by the Panamanian government and the U.S. government.

USDA recently announced $21 million to retrofit a fruit fly facility in Chiapas, Mexico to produce additional sterile flies.

“There’s an immediate threat that just needs to be tackled, and that’s where the initial $21 million investment to reopen the facility is, which I think is great,” Gonzales said. “It’s a good first step. Getting the Mexicans to be good partners and honest stewards in this is important, but the true solution, the long-term solution, is having a U.S. facility.”

Sterile flies were vital to eradicating screwworms from the U.S.

The sterile male flies mate with the female screwworm flies and create unfertilized eggs.

Since wild New World screwworm flies mate only once, it helps reduce the number of screwworm flies in a given area.

Lawmakers have taken other action this year to combat the spread of NWS, including the introduction of the STOP the Screwworms Act and the Screwworm Preparedness Act.

USDA also temporarily closed the southern ports of entry to cattle, bison and horses coming from or transiting Mexico.

“We shut down the ports of entry about two to three weeks ago, much to the chagrin of my counterpart in Mexico Secretary Julio Berdegué and their administration,” Rollins said. “We had call after call after call with them really asking us to reconsider, reconsider, reconsider, but that screwworm had moved from within 1,100 miles of our border to 700 miles of our border within a matter of weeks.”

Texas Tech University and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension have held webinars to help veterinarians, livestock and wildlife owners prepare for the reintroduction of the pest into the United States.

Texas Farm Bureau launched a new webpage to keep the public up to date. It’s available here.