Maine port officials say facilities secure Worker ID cards delayed nationwide

WASHINGTON – The small size, remote locations and relatively low-value cargo of Maine’s ports in Searsport and Eastport make them easier to manage and to secure, according to security agents from the two ports.

“We’re doing what needs to be done,” Charles Leppin, facility security officer at Eastport’s Fish Pier, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We deal with just one cargo from one mill … and we are on an island.”

Nevertheless, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday, “The Coast Guard is concerned about small ports [nationally]. While their strength is the low volume of cargo and knowledge of who they work with, they can also represent a relatively vulnerable point of entry because of their lower security levels.”

Seaport security was the focus Tuesday of a Senate committee hearing, where Collins of Maine sat as the senior Republican member.

Maine officials, though, say their ports are secure.

John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority, said the only burden on Maine’s ports is to “maintain the standards that have been set” by the government.

“I feel that we are very secure in our Maine ports,” Henshaw said in a phone interview. “There have been a lot of changes since 2001, but they have been implemented.”

The U.S. Coast Guard is in charge of making sure each port has established and is enforcing a security plan that meets federal standards.

Alan Moore, the Coast Guard port security specialist for northern New England, said Searsport and Eastport have done a good job at complying with all port security laws developed since Sept. 11.

“The federal regulations are risk-based specifications, so they can be tailor-made to each operation of various sizes and locations,” Moore said in a phone interview. “We do compliance inspections on an annual basis; we have one scheduled visit and one unannounced visit.”

Moore said Coast Guard inspectors check to see whether training records are up to date and to make sure fencing is properly maintained.

One regulation that all U.S. ports are having trouble complying with is the issuance of Transportation Worker Identification Credentials, according to Collins during Tuesday’s hearing.

Creation of the credentials, referred to as TWIC cards, has been held up by “technological” issues, Stewart Baker, assistant policy secretary, said during his testimony to the committee.

“TWIC is one of the world’s most advanced, interoperable biometric credentialing programs,” Baker said. “But this is a complex undertaking, and we are behind schedule.”

Moore said Maine would have TWIC enrollment centers, in Portland and Bangor, where the credentials can be issued.

“The TWIC cards were supposed to be out in July, and here it is October,” Moore said. “Leases and equipment are holding the process up a bit.”

Eastport and Searsport officials said they are prepared to implement TWIC cards as soon as they become available.

Duane Seekins, the Searsport Sprague Energy terminal manager, said the terminal is in the process of getting the TWIC cards but it has “been slow.”

Workers at the Federal Marine Terminals facility in Eastport already have company identification cards, according to Russell Selwood, the facility’s security officer.

“It’s just one of those things that people do to feel safe,” Selwood said of the TWIC cards in a phone interview. But he added that the cards weren’t likely to prevent terrorist attacks anyway. “We’ll get [the TWIC cards] when they are ready, but if the terrorists want to do something, they will get it done.”