Private(ly owned) Bridge on Canada Border a Security Concern

[Up2Late]

Source: NPR

Private Bridge on Canada Border a Security Concern

Listen to this story... by Pam Fessler

Morning Edition, May 21, 2007 · The busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada — the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit — is privately owned. It carries one-quarter of all trade between the two countries, worth about $100 billion a year. But government inspectors have limited access to the bridge, and it's not clear who is in charge of making sure it doesn't become a terrorist target.

The bridge is owned by Manuel "Matty" Moroun, a reclusive billionaire distrusted by many people on both sides of the border. Moroun is now in a fierce battle with a government-run group over who gets to build the next crossing.

One of the big issues is security. Gregg Ward, who runs a nearby ferry for trucks that carry hazardous materials, is disturbed that uninspected trucks are allowed to park underneath the base of the Ambassador. They park there while truckers shop at the bridge's duty-free store on the American side. Trucks and cars can also fill up their tanks with discounted fuel. Ward says fuel trucks park under the bridge when they're filling up the underground storage tanks.

Ward recalls a fuel truck accident earlier this year, which caused a major highway to collapse in California. He says an explosion underneath the Ambassador could be disastrous — shutting down one of the most important trade arteries in the nation....

(more at link)

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10241088

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This is CRAZY "in a post-9/11 world," IMHO. Looks to me like just one more example of the Bush Cabal putting the interest of Billionaires ahead of the actually making America "safer."

[Parche]

1. Terra

I am so tired of hearing...."In a post 9/11 world" :mad:

This administration is forcing America to focus too much on these so called terrorists, that
they have lost sight of everything else...:mad:

[Up2Late]

4. To be fair, that was my sarcastic remark, not the the reporters.

I've tried using Smilies in this new format LBN before, but it usually causes bugs, so I didn't use it.

I'm really tired of that phrase too, which was the reason for the quotes.

[CatholicEdHead]

2. I heard the story this morning and rolled my eyes

It was a weak application of the "Terror Card".

[truthisfreedom]

3. It's a security concern. What idiot would put gasoline storage tanks under a bridge?

Especially such an important one?

Perhaps the most cost-effective thing to do is move all of the threatening problems to a more distant location and eliminate all parking from the area.

[liberal N proud]

5. But selling our highways and ports to foreign investors is OK?

[Zookeeper]

6. The bridge shouldn't be privately owned.

That's just nuts.

[onehandle]

7. If Bush wanted to protect us, he'd seize it immediately.

Be a man, smirk. Grab the bridge. Your Freeper/McVeigh base would Love it!

[sutz12]

8. Tinfoil hatters unite....

So the 'accident' in California was just practice, right? :tinfoilhat:

[leftchick]

9. I remember going over that bridge every summer of my youth

traveling from NY to Michigan to see my grandparents. Shit, it was old way back then.

[Demeter]

10. The Ambassador Bridge Was Privately Built Starting in 1927

Neither state, federal or local governemnt did anything except fight it.

http://www.ambassadorbridge.com/history/construction.html



It was completed Nov. 11, 1929, and it has been in operation ever since. That was back when American industry meant something, and B School graduates DIDN'T run the world into the ground. It's owners survived the Great Depression, which started three weeks before the Bridge opened, bad cables which had to be replaced, competition from the Windsor Tunnel, WWII and confiscatory taxes. It was a family business, in a way.

I have crossed it many times, and marvelled, but it is a true monument to times we must ressurrect, or this country will die.

[KamaAina]

11. Security concern? Perhaps... but is it the private company's fault?

This would seem to indicate otherwise:

http://www.ambassadorbridge.com/history/improving_the_bridge.html

In early 1977, the Bridge company purchased a $1.2 million, 40-door terminal building from a neighboring trucking company with the intent of leasing it to GSA for use by U.S. Customs for truck clearance. This offer was refused, and the Bridge company then offered to sell the facility to GSA at cost.

The terminal building still sits vacant two years later, waiting for GSA, which prefers to purchase on its own terms. The Bridge company offered in May 1979 to provide it without cost to the U.S. Government. GSA has also refused that offer. In contrast, truck examination on the Canadian side has run smoothly for many years, and was further improved in 1973 when its truck examination area was segregated from the rest of the terminal area.

But, but, but I thought Soviet Canuckistan was the weak link in the war on terra? :sarcasm:

[Up2Late]

12. kick n/t

:kick:

[Big Pappa]

13. How does this

bridge make money is there a toll?

[Up2Late]

14. Yup, one that I guess has been going up a lot lately...

...and it's all up to the private owner.