Eddie's Tunnel Nightmare

Do I ever feel dumb, with a capital "D." But you know what, I am in good company!

I read an article in The Journal of Commerce, June 26, 2006, that was given to me by a loyal reader. That article changed everything.

I admit it; I missed seeing the obvious. It confirmed to me that a good part of what is going on in the border file has nothing to do with the real facts but that it is completely directed to put the Bridge Co. out of business or to force them to sell out.

The article made clear to me that the real risk to us is NOT terrorists blowing up the Ambassador Bridge but rather terrorists using the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to destroy the symbol of American Capitalism, the GM headquarters building at the foot of the Tunnel!

Read what else:

• There’s an inherent security concern with the proximity of that tunnel to the downtowns of both Detroit and Windsor
• the tunnel’s limited space makes it difficult to use as a commercial port of entry
• Customs said the tunnel doesn’t meet their requirements

We've all been deliberately deceived. We have had information kept from us. We were pointed in the wrong direction. We have been played like fools to fit an agenda that has been hidden from us that we only suspected.

Poor Senator Kenny. I feel sorry for him. He should have been told to worry more about who is to provide redundancy for the Tunnel, not redundancy for the Bridge. His wartime urgency should not have been directed to building a new crossing for a bridge to duplicate the Ambassador Bridge, but building a twinned bridge in case something happens to the Tunnel! It is all upside down. It is all topsy turvy.

We do not have to worry about redundancy at the bridge. Redundancy is the chief reason given for building a new bridge. It is all a lie. Redundancy was just the excuse being used.

If redundancy at the bridge was a real issue----reverse customs was the obvious answer and could have been implemented quickly and easily. Why don't we have it----Now we know why---redundancy is not an issue.

I wonder if this is why Eddie made such a big deal about reverse customs at the Mackinac conference all of a sudden. As WTC Chair, he must have known that his Tunnel had major security problems that reverse customs could fix. Perhaps this is the real reason he needed $30 million to fix up the Tunnel. It had NOTHING to do with moving vehicles through the Tunnel more quickly or getting traffic off City streets around the Tunnel. He needed a huge pre-clearance area if the Tunnel was to survive financially!

How much did Gridlock Sam know about the Tunnel's risks since he obviously knows tunnels from being in New York. We know he received $40,000 to prepare a traffic routing report at the Tunnel. What did he tell Eddie about the state of the Tunnel. We know he made a lot of noise about the Ambassador Bridge's problems but I do not remember him saying much about the Tunnel.

Sarnia is an obvious answer for bridge redundancy for many trucks already since mileage via Sarnia or Windsor to many locations is virtually identical.

However, the truth has come out. We already have real redundancy for the bridge. It is Eddie's Tunnel. As Neal Belitsky said "If anything happened to the Ambassador Bridge, the industry is smart enough to figure out how to put their goods on smaller trucks to get it across....Right now we serve as the redundancy." Had you ever heard this before?

In other words, we did not have to worry about this issue as much as some wanted us to do. We were being manipulated to serve another's objectives.

Who has been thinking or talking publicly about security issues at the Tunnel. There has not been much discussion about that has there? It has all been directed to the bridge and the problems it may have. Interestingly, it was the US Customs and Border Protection service which raised an issue not our own Canadian security people. The article talked about a truck "from Windsor" as the threat too

Really, why would someone raise that as an issue? They would not if they are trying to put the Bridge Co. out of business! Why change the focus to the Tunnel which is owned by the City instead of fingering a private company.

Our poor Mayor/Windsor Tunnel Commission head. Now not only is he, as Mayor, being blamed by the Americans for not building the road to the bridge using the $300 million BIF money, now he, as WTC Chair, can take the heat for the "unique security risk" which makes CBP officials "nervous!"

To top it all off, Eddie has just increased the toll at the Tunnel by some significant amounts. Now the article points out that the Tunnel could lose up to 15% of its revenues through loss of truck traffic or about $1.5 million in income.

If this article does not scare away potential investors to finance Eddie's Tunnel master plan, then nothing will. This article, the failure to build a road to the border, the toll increase and Marko's leaving are the nails in Eddie's border dream.

From having everyone waiting with bated breath for him to speak on the border, can it get any worse for Eddie, and for us?

Tunnel Vision

The link between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, presents tricky security challenges.

The tunnel that connects Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, is unique. It’s the only underwater tunnel in the world that crosses an international border. Since 1930 it has allowed drivers to shuttle from downtown directly to downtown, arguably a key ingredient in the economic cement that has bound the two cities.

In the post-Sept. 11 world, the tunnel has become a unique security risk, which makes Customs and Border Protection officials nervous. If terrorists smuggled a truck loaded with explosives from Windsor, they would have the heart of downtown Detroit within their reach, especially the landmark Renaissance Center, which sits atop the tunnel entrance.

"CBP’s concerns at the tunnel are security and facility-related," said Robert Perez, Customs port director in Detroit. "There’s this inherent security concern with the proximity of that tunnel to the downtowns of both Detroit and Windsor." Perez was the first director of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program.

There are mitigating factors. Most of the trucks using the tunnel are local folk, who use the tunnel as a convenient link between the east side of Detroit and the east of Windsor, said Neal Belitsky, executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Co., the operating company that runs the tunnel for the two cities that own it.

"We don’t get the trucks that go from Toronto to Florida. These are all the local guys," Belitsky said. Long distance traffic uses the Ambassador Bridge, about two miles downriver from the tunnel. Customs processes 6,000 to 7,000 U.S. bound trucks a day at the bridge. Tunnel truck traffic is some 550 a day in both directions, a figure that has dwindled since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. For example, under the Bioterrorism Act, trucks carrying food products must be cleared by Food and Drug Administration inspectors who are stationed at the bridge.

In fact, an 18-wheeler won’t fit in the tunnel. Belitsky said that most of the trucks haul such commodities as aggregate, auto parts and scrap metal. DaimlerChrysler has a special fleet of flatbed trailers that meet the tunnel’s clearances to shuttle parts between Detroit and Windsor manufacturing plants.

Drivers use Customs’ Border Release Advanced Selectivity System, a paper-based manifest system that expedites the release of goods. Drivers who use BRASS must have a FAST card, one of the security measures that went into effect after the terrorist attacks. Under the Free and Secure Trade initiative, drivers undergo background checks and receive a photo identification card to be able to move goods across the border.

But BRASS is obsolete and is being replaced by the Automated Commercial Environment electronic truck manifest system. Belitsky said Customs wants to phase out BRASS by the end of the year, and wonders what the agency will use for truck manifests until the e-manifest becomes mandatory. Not true, Perez said. BRASS will be replaced by the ACE e-manifest system, but when that will happen will be the decision of ACE executives in Washington.

While primary booths at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel are equipped with the e-manifest system, the tunnel’s limited space makes it difficult to use as a commercial port of entry, Perez said. There is no room to install an x-ray scanner or a dock where inspectors can unload a truck. To do a full inspection, Customs must escort a truck to the cargo facility at the Ambassador Bridge. Customs targets about a dozen trucks a week for inspections in depth.

Perez said Customs is open to proposals for expanding the tunnel’s commercial facility. But finding more space is a serious problem. "We’re in a quandary. We’ve continued to meet with Customs, and it’s been a frustrating experience," Belitsky said. Customs said the tunnel doesn’t meet their requirements, but they won’t say what their requirements are. "They expect that an operator will submit a proposal to them, and they would review it. It’s very subjective."

Perez said Customs has a good working relationship with the tunnel operator. "They’ve been open to the notion of eliminating trucks at the facility at some point. I don’t know right now that’s where they want to go, but I’m encouraging that they’re receptive at least to having that discussion."

Loss of truck traffic will cost the tunnel company about 15 percent of its revenue, Belitsky said, and the cities of Detroit and Windsor each will lose $1.5 million in income. Closing the tunnel also would give the privately owned Ambassador Bridge a de facto monopoly on tolls. Right now bridge and tunnel tolls are competitive.

The tunnel is also the only alternative border crossing in the Detroit-Windsor area if something happened to the bridge, Belitsky said. Federal, state and local officials in the U.S. and Canada are in a political tangle over construction of a new crossing. It’s not likely that any new crossing will open before 2013.

"If anything happened to the Ambassador Bridge, the industry is smart enough to figure out how to put their goods on smaller trucks to get it across," Belitsky said. "Right now we serve as the redundancy. It’s very shortsighted of Customs in this day and age to cut off their nose to spite their face."