AAPA makes another pitch for more port security grants

AAPA makes another pitch for more port security grants U.S. ports need more help to comply with unfunded mandates to tighten facility security and to implement a national identification card system for workers and frequent visitors, the industry's trade association plans to tell Congress today.
   The American Association of Port Authorities is upset that the Bush administration and Congress have only reimbursed ports for about 20 percent of the $4.34 billion requested through the Port Security Grant program. For the past four years the organization has perpetually lobbied for more funding to pay for security improvements and meet the requirements of the 2002 Maritime Transportation Security Act. The Department of Homeland Security has distributed $876 million to ports so far through six rounds of grants. Last year the AAPA headed off a Bush administration attempt to consolidate port security grants in a catchall grant program for all types of critical infrastructure. The Bush budget released last week seeks $210 million for the program in fiscal 2008 — the same amount Congress appropriated for the current year after supplementing the administration's lower request.
   'This underfunding has left ports with the difficult choice of either delaying security improvements or paying the lopsided balance themselves, which, in some cases, requires shifting funds from other needed infrastructure improvement projects,' Vice President Susan Monteverde will tell the House Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, according to prepared testimony posted on the AAPA Web site. 'Ports already spend millions of dollars on security in areas that are not paid for by grants,' such as additional personnel, and operation and maintenance of security systems, she said.
   The new requirement to provide a Transportation Worker Identification Credential to every worker and frequent visitor to secure areas of a port will only add to the financial burden of ports, Monteverde said. The Coast Guard estimate of $300 million to install readers at ports across the nation is low, she said. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, for example, are projected to spend $22 million alone to install the TWIC card readers.
   In addition to more grant money to help cover costs for implementing the fingerprint-based ID card program, AAPA calls for adequate staff and funding for the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard to test and oversee the implementation of the TWIC program.
   The TSA recently selected Lockheed Martin to issue the high-tech photo-ID cards.
   The AAPA reiterates that Congress should fund the full $400 million authorized for port security grants in last fall's SAFE Port Act.
   It asks Congress to provide money for all public ports, not just high-risk ones. 'Otherwise, this TWIC equipment becomes an unfunded mandate for smaller facilities, many of which have the least amount of financial capital to invest in these security requirements,' Monteverde intends to testify.
      The Port Security Grant program office will be transferred within DHS to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in fiscal year 2008, and Monteverde asked Congress to again issue a timetable for the prompt release of the grants.
      Last year several shipper and carrier groups countered the perennial plea for more port security grants by questioning whether any infrastructure projects are being postponed because of diversion of money for security improvements. The groups noted that Coast Guard, which estimated it would cost $5.4 billion in equipment, systems and infrastructure to implement the 2002 port security legislation, never implied the federal government would cover capital costs for lighting, fencing, access control, technology and other security upgrades. They also said that many ports are collecting additional monies through security surcharges on port users.