02/24/06 Port security and ag

The headlines this week has centered in part on issues of U.S. port security, especially in the realm of purchase of six U.S. ports by a Middle Eastern company, Dubai Ports World. But just weeks before this news came out, U.S. Senator Patty Murray was pointing out that funding for security in port facilities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and others in the U.S. were lacking in the President's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget. MURRAY: The Commandant of the Coast Guard told us that it would take $7.3 billion dollars over ten years to secure our ports. We've been fighting for this funding for the past three years. Currently, the Administration has only asked for about $46 million of that total amount. That's about half of one per cent of the investment that we need. And what has upset Murray more is the response of the Administration which is that local port facilities should come up with the remaining balance of the security funding. Murray says that philosophy only works for port facilities that can afford it. MURRAY: If Seattle does it and Tacoma does it, that provides no security for anybody. So we can rely on our communities who are burdened right now with this cost. I believe this is a federal responsibility. The security of our nation is a federal responsibility, and we have a responsibility to fund it in the budget. And Murray adds lets not forget who would pay the most for passed on cost to assure secure port facilities & the main users, farmers and shippers of ag goods. MURRAY: We've got so much impacting our farmers today. High fuel costs, high fertilizer rates. Transportation rates are going up. There's difficult market conditions. There's drought and disasters. The thought of adding additional costs to them on the local level for security of their ports, so they can ship their grains is just untenable. To that end, Murray recently co-sponsored a bill, the Greenlane Maritime Cargo Security Act, that would tighten federal efforts to provide port security, and potential federal funding that would go with it. MURRAY: I've been working long and hard to close the loopholes that are in our cargo container system today so we can have a secure system and know that that is not capable of happening. Details of the Greenlane Act include giving the Homeland Security Department more power to enact rules and regulations, create both an office to coordinate cargo security policy and a Joint Operations Center to assure a resumption of commerce after an incident, improve existing programs like the Port Security Grant Program, and allow voluntary participation in the enhanced security program.