Congress passes bill to thwart terrorism in nation’s seaports

WASHINGTON – Efforts to tighten security and prevent terrorist attacks at ports in Maine and across the nation received the unanimous nod of the U.S. Senate Thursday, with a vote of 95 to 0.

The bill requires vulnerability assessments of all 361 deepwater seaports by the Department of Transportation and the Coast Guard. Local port authorities then will apply for government grants to beef up protections against threats such as container ships carrying weapons of mass destruction or hijacked oil tankers.

“Our ports represent a significant weakness in our national security,” said Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., a chief sponsor of the legislation as chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “Their sheer size and complexity combined with the enormous volume of commercial cargo that travels through them every day makes them vulnerable to attack.”

The House was expected to approve the measure late Thursday evening and send it to the White House for the president’s signature.

Additional precautions call for limiting access to sensitive port areas with the use of background checks and security identification cards. The bill also restricts firearms and other weapons at ports.

Officials at Maine ports in Portland, Searsport and Eastport applauded the legislation, saying that many security measures already have been adopted in the past year.

“It raises the level of port security almost to the level of aviation security,” said Capt. Jerry W. Monroe, director of the Port of Portland, the nation’s 25th largest port. It receives 28 million tons of oil annually from international tankers.

Monroe said he likes a proposal to install transponders on all vessels entering U.S. waters. “This is legislation that’s been a long time in coming.”

Monroe testified before the Senate on behalf of the measure last year. With the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, Portland began establishing security zones for shipping soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

The legislation calls for increased funding of the Coast Guard by $1 billion next year, to a total of $6 billion. The increase will cover expenses for expanded security missions, personnel recruitment and capital investments.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a co-sponsor of the measure, championed several provisions in the bill. One requires incoming cargo and cruise ships to give 96 hours’ notice before approaching a port instead of the present 12 hours. She additionally supported a program to expand the information that ships must provide on crew, passengers and cargo before entering U.S. waters.

Snowe served as a key Senate negotiator with House conferees and fought to boost funding for the Coast Guard, which, under the bill, will take on new tasks for spotting potentially dangerous ships, as well as conducting maritime intelligence.

She also secured authorization to transfer the Coast Guard’s pier in Portland to the Gulf of Maine Aquarium Research Laboratory and language preventing the Coast Guard from decommissioning its 65-foot ice-breaking tugs stationed in Maine.

Lawmakers have yet to nail down a price tag on the package, called the Maritime Security Act of 2002, and funding remains to be approved. Senate negotiators struggled for months to get user fees on shipping approved, but House members refused to accept the proposal.

The legislation instead calls on the Bush administration to report back to Congress in six months with estimates on the costs and how to pay for them.

Industry groups lobbied against user fees.

“We think it should come from general revenues because homeland security is a national responsibility,” said Susan Turner, government affairs director for the America Association of Port Authorities.

As part of the legislation, one plan calls for $90 million in research and development grants for improving cargo inspection and $33 million to train security personnel.