Category Archives: News Article

Does Anyone Trust Moroun?

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Ambassador Bridge wants to improve west Windsor
Bridge company president Dan Stamper says he wants to discuss improvements to west end

CBC News

The Ambassador Bridge company wants a meeting with Windsor mayor Eddie Francis and city council.

The bridge company owns more than 150 properties in the city’s west end and it says it wants to discuss improvements to the neighbourhood.

Bridge president Dan Stamper said in a letter that he’s tired of fighting and thinks it’s possible to put down “the swords” and accomplish good things for Windsor.

Francis said the only way a meeting will happen is if the bridge executive agrees not to talk about building a second span.

“It’s the Ambassador Bridge doing what the Ambassador Bridge does. It says one thing and does and acts completely opposite of what they say their intentions are,” Francis alleges. “The ball is in their court. We got a number of other priorities on out list that keep us busy and focused but we are going to continue to protect the interests of this community and we are going to continue to ensure that the public interest is maintained.”

Francis said he will not formally respond to the letter.

He and Stamper did meet earlier in the year, but there was no agreement.

Coun. Ron Jones, who represents the west end, doesn’t believe the bridge will ever get the necessary permits to build a second span.

He said any type of meeting would have to involve the community in a public forum.

“I want to discuss the boarded up houses in west Windsor. I want to talk about routes, about hazardous materials, there’s a pile of things we can talk about at that meeting,” Jones said. “But the public has a right to know.”

Southwest Detroit contractor pipeline for New International Trade Crossing being established

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By David Muller | MLive.com

DETROIT, MI – The Southwest Detroit Congress of Communities has announced that it will be assessing which local contractors can qualify for Michigan Department of Transportation contracts for work on the New International Trade Crossing.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Snyder and federal officials announced the U.S. State Department has issued a permit for construction of the NITC, a $3.5 billion bridge that will connect Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.

The Congress of Communities said that it is looking for pre-qualified contractors to do road and bridge construction and repair, concrete or hot asphalt mixing and paving, pavement marking, concrete curb and sidewalk work, street lighting, sewer installation, signing and landscaping.

At the same time, the Southwest Detroit Business Association and Pure Michigan are partnering to hire a full-time staff member to help local contractors get pre-qualified with MDOT and then to assist them with the bidding process.

“This is simply an assessment of contractors in a our community, not a guarantee of pre-qualification,” Congress of Communities said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the program could not immediately be reached Tuesday morning.

In the past, SDBA president Kathleen Wendler has said the organization was working to ensure that work on the new bridge would come from the area that it is impacting the most, namely the Del Ray neighborhood and Southwest Detroit – where the foot of the structure will land in the U.S. – rather than from out-of-state contractors.

The Congress of Communities said it will later pass local contractors’ information on to the SDBA and Pure Michigan. The process is expected to begin in about six months.

Building a bridge to somewhere

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The Washington Post

By Al Kamen

Is the Obama White House media-shy these days?

Seems the State Department granted a permit last week for a major U.S.-Canada construction project.

(Rebecca Cook/Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announces that the U.S. State Department has issued a key permit allowing Michigan and Canada to proceed with constructing a new bridge over the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

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No, not that project, but a big one nonetheless: a $1 billion bridge over the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to relieve congestion and build trade over the most heavily used trade portal to this country. (There’s now only one bridge, privately owned and 80 years old, over the river.)

Estimates are that the project will cost $3.5 billion and create about 12,000 jobs directly and 31,000 indirectly (cement, steel and so forth) in the two countries, according to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R).

The jobs would be split between the United States and Canada, but even at that, the total might be about what the controversial Keystone XL project would produce — depending on which of the wildly varying estimates is correct.

Even better, the Canadians are committed to paying Michigan’s half of the bridge’s construction cost, with future toll revenue paying off that debt.

So, let’s see, you’ve got: (1) a major infrastructure improvement project; (2) increased international trade; (3) bipartisan support; and (4) 20,000 American jobs being created.

To paraphrase Vice President Biden, seems like this is kind of a big deal. But only the Canadian and Michigan media paid much attention to the permit grant, which is the final go-ahead move. Media (including The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and so on) wrote short items Friday and Saturday based mostly on wire reports.

The State Department issued a statement last week noting the permit, but, best we can tell, the White House, perhaps focused on guns, nuclear threats, immigration and so forth, was quiet.

Well, Obama won Michigan and Ohio last time, so…

Suits seen as unlikely roadblocks to bridge

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Permit in hand, but fight continues

By Bill Shea and Dustin Walsh

Crain’s Detroit Business

Legal challenges thrown up to block a second Detroit River bridge are more speed bumps than roadblocks, at least according to Gov. Rick Snyder.

The state “has a winning track record” in defeating such lawsuits, he said Friday after announcing the U.S. Department of State had approved the critical presidential permit needed to advance the $2.1 billion New International Trade Crossing linking the highways in Detroit and Windsor. And they won’t halt its construction.

TRADE CROSSING FAQS

• The New International Trade Crossing is estimated to cost $2.1 billion. The I-75 highway interchange was predicted in 2010 to cost $385.9 million, and the U.S. plaza, $413.6 million. The nearly $1 billion bridge itself would be financed by Canada through a private-sector concessionaire, and the remainder of the $2.1 billion price tag is on the Canadian side of the project.
• Canada has pledged to cover any construction and operational deficits. It also will cover all capital costs on the Michigan side of the project, including $264 million that project organizers want the U.S. government to pay for. If Ottawa and Washington can’t reach a deal on that cost, Canada will pay it.
• Under a deal reached in June 2012 among the Michigan, Ontario and Canadian federal governments, a Canadian company called the Crossing Authority will be in charge of the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the six-lane bridge, which it is expected to bid out under public-private partnership deal to a private company for a 40- or 50-year concession.
• All of Michigan’s share of the crossing tolls will go to Canada to pay back its costs. The state will not receive any toll revenue until that money is paid back and after the concession agreement ends in four or five decades.
• Tolls will be determined by the private-sector concessionaire during the bidding process. However, the models used by MDOT to justify need for the new span are predicated on using the same toll rates as the Ambassador Bridge.
• The Crossing Authority will fall under a joint authority, and half the bridge will be owned by Michigan and half by Canada.
• The deal was swung by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder with Canada to bypass the Michigan Legislature, which balked at approving any money for the bridge project because of concerns about its necessity — border traffic has declined since 2001 — and whether it would unfairly affect the competing privately-owned Ambassador Bridge.
• Backers tout the new jobs and increased trade they predict the span will fuel. Snyder said the project will create 12,000 direct jobs and as many as 31,000 indirect jobs.
• Supporters also say the bridge will eliminate a traffic bottleneck at the border, and provide redundancy for the Ambassador Bridge two miles away.
• The Detroit-Windsor border — which encompasses the bridge, a tunnel and ferries — is the busiest in North America and carries a quarter of all U.S. trade with Canada, which was $120 billion last year.

Source: State of Michigan, Crain’s research

“I view (such lawsuits) as unfortunate because it takes away resources from the state,” Snyder said after a news conference in Detroit at which he and others touted the permit and bridge project.

The leading opponent of the project is Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun, the commercial trucking industrialist who has said the new span will bankrupt his bridge by taking lucrative commercial truck traffic. He’s owned the bridge since 1979.

Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. and Canadian Transit Co. in February filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against the U.S. and Canadian governments and other agencies, arguing they don’t have the authority to approve the bridge permit.

Mickey Blashfield, the DIBC’s director of governmental relations, declined to comment Friday.

Also suing to halt the project is State Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, who is challenging the state’s right to create the agreement it has with Canada that governs how the span will be built, owned and operated.

Durhal has links to Moroun: He previously received $7,000 in campaign contributions from the Moroun family, and his attorney, Godfrey Dillard, used to work for the Ambassador Bridge owner, MLive.com reported on April 9.

Observers say the lawsuits are last-gasp delaying tactics that have little hope of postponing the inevitable for more than a few months.

Click here to read the full story.

Next up for bridge plan: Buying land

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U.S. permit clears way, but Ambassador owner holds key properties

By Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Detroit — Construction of a long-sought new Detroit River crossing took a major step forward Friday with the signing of a presidential permit clearing the way for Canada and Michigan to assemble land for the $2.1 billion six-lane bridge.

The U.S. State Department announced approval of the bridge on Friday. It ends a lengthy review conducted in part to ensure the New International Trade Crossing can survive legal challenges from Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun, who has spent millions of dollars trying to block the project for nearly a decade.

“This is huge,” Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday afternoon in announcing the permit. “It’s more than a bridge to me. It’s about jobs and our future in this state.”

Canadian leaders view it as their country’s biggest transportation project and have agreed to front Michigan’s $550 million share of the cost, which will be repaid through toll revenue. The Canadians also have pledged to reimburse Michigan taxpayers for any expenses the state Department of Transportation incurs in connecting the new bridge to Interstate 75 through a new international plaza in southwest Detroit.

But the Snyder administration and Canadian government still will have to deal with an old nemesis as they try to finish assembling land in Detroit for the project. One of Moroun’s companies owns a handful of parcels in the area now targeted for inclusion in the footprint required for the bridge and plaza.

Much of the vacant land in the area is already owned by the city. But Moroun has bought a hodgepodge of property across southwest Detroit in the area where different bridge proposals were planned, including a few between Jefferson and Fort and Green and Campbell that will be needed for the new bridge and highway interchange.

Legal challenges continue

In an interview Friday, Snyder said the state Department of Transportation will treat Moroun like any other landowner as the agency assembles land on behalf of a new international authority that will own and operate the bridge.

“There won’t be any change in process for what’s owned by the Morouns versus any other landholder,” Snyder said.

Snyder declined to say whether MDOT would have to seize Moroun’s land through eminent domain, where the state takes property but still compensates the owner for its value. The seizure process is legal for public uses such as roads and bridges.

“I’m not going to speculate on that, that’s their choice,” Snyder said. “Hopefully they’ll make what they consider the appropriate decision. … Because I’ve never tried to fight with them.”

A spokesman for Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Company did not return calls Friday seeking comment.

The Morouns do not own land on the Canadian side that would be required for the new bridge, said Roy Norton, the Canadian consulate general to Detroit.

Moroun’s company has a pending federal lawsuit seeking to stop the bridge, claiming the Ambassador Bridge has an exclusive franchise to operate a lucrative Detroit-to-Windsor bridge that dates to a nine-decade-old act of Congress and the Canadian Parliament.

State Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, recently sued Snyder, challenging the governor’s legal authority to enter into an agreement with Canada without the state Legislature’s approval. After legislation authorizing a new bridge failed to get out of a Senate committee in 2011, Snyder bypassed the Legislature and signed a deal with Canadian officials last June that calls for Canada to finance the bridge.

Construction in 2015?

With the presidential permit in hand, Snyder said construction could begin as early as 2015, depending on legal challenges. The crossing may open for traffic by 2020, he said. The project is expected to create 12,000 direct construction jobs and as many as 31,000 indirect jobs.

“A lot of people are looking forward to that day when they’re going to step on or drive on that new crossing … most likely it will be after I’m finished in office,” Snyder said.

Scott Brines, 41, who lives in the Delray community, said Friday’s announcement brought a “sigh of relief” in the community that wants green space buffers and environmental protections from the new bridge complex.

“More than a buffer, we need to see a real dent in the air quality,” said Brines, president of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition. “This is the opportunity this community has waited for a very long time.”

Landowners want to be compensated fairly for their property if it falls in the path of the bridge and plaza, Brines said.

“I’m not so sure how fair it will be, but they’ll have to be compensated,” said attorney Alan Ackerman, who represents 20 property owners in Delray. “The fact is if the government really needs it and it’s a public use, the government’s going to get it.”

Tim Boik, owner of West Detroit Parts, an auto parts store on West Fort Street, said he has “no problem” with moving and hopes Moroun and other landowners will not drag out the project any longer.

“He’s just delaying something that’s actually going to happen,” Boik said. “Everybody’s excited because the city’s been dying off for years, and it’s going to bring some new life into it.”

Snyder: Permit for Detroit-Windsor bridge is about state’s future

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By David Shepardson and Chad Livengood
The Detroit News

The Obama administration has approved a presidential permit clearing the way for a new $2 billion six-lane bridge crossing between Detroit and Windsor — hailed by Michigan and Canada as a way to boost trade and create thousands of jobs.

The State Department, which informed Michigan and Canadian officials of the planned decision late Thursday, formally announced approval on Friday. The lengthy review was in part to ensure that the decision can survive multiple legal challenges of the New International Trade Crossing.

“This is huge,” Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday afternoon in announcing the permit. “It’s more than a bridge to me. It’s about jobs and our future in this state.”

U.S. and Canadian officials hailed the presidential permit as a step toward strengthening trading relations between the two countries.

“It’s a real significant step forward for everybody,” Canada Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said at the announcement.

“We have taken today what is undoubtedly the greatest relationship between two neighbors anywhere in the world and we’ve made it a little better,” said David Jacobson, U.S. ambassador to Canada. “And that’s something to be proud of.”

But not everyone is satisfied with the bridge plans.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Democrat who represents the southwest Detroit area where the crossing will be built, said she welcomes the bridge, but residents need a legally binding agreement to address issues such as air quality, jobs and community oversight.

“Gov. Rick Snyder and the United States and Canadian governments have yet to effectively address the negative impacts on the residents, local businesses and churches in Detroit that will directly be impacted by this massive project,” Tlaib said in a statement. “… The project must include a comprehensive plan that creates permanent jobs for Michigan families and supports local businesses and a community benefits process.”

Snyder said the major construction project is expected to create 12,000 direct jobs and as many as 31,000 indirect jobs.

“Getting Michigan-made products to more markets faster will enhance our economic competitiveness in the future and help our state create more jobs,” he said in a statement.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood lauded Snyder for his “tireless leadership” while praising the economic benefits of the bridge.

“The New International Trade Crossing will be much more than just a bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario,” LaHood said in a statement. “As those who have worked so hard to move this project forward know, it will be an economic engine for the entire region.”

Still, the bridge faces legal challenges.

Several lawsuits have been filed to stop the span, which would compete with the privately owned Ambassador Bridge. The Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the Ambassador Bridge and is controlled by Manuel “Matty” Moroun, filed suit in Washington in November to block it. The suit is pending. Moroun also spent millions trying to convince Michigan voters in a failed referendum last November to block the bridge.

Canada, which has been calling the new bridge the Detroit River International Crossing, praised Friday’s announcement.

“Canada and the United States are each other’s most important trading partners. The presidential permit represents an important step towards a new bridge, which will be needed for growing trade and traffic at the busiest Canada-U.S. commercial border crossing with over 8,000 trucks crossing each day,” said Canadian Labor Minister Lisa Raitt. “This project will create thousands of jobs and opportunities on both sides of the border both during the construction period and in the years to come.”

The State Department also has scheduled a telephone briefing Friday for members of Congress.

Jeff Watson, a member of parliament for Essex, called the approval a “vital” one.

“One-quarter of all U.S.-Canada trade, which is the world’s largest two-way trading relationship, crosses at Windsor-Detroit,” Watson said. “The Detroit River International Crossing will make a vital contribution to our community, the auto industry, Canada’s economy and the well-being of both countries.”

Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, applauded the news as “a huge win for southeast Michigan, and we can expect thousands of much needed new jobs now that construction can begin. The Detroit-Windsor border is already the single busiest trade corridor between the U.S. and Canada, but this crossing will transform Greater Detroit into a global transportation hub”

Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, said the U.S. Coast Guard still must approve the state’s pending permit to allow the project to move forward. The state must acquire additional land to build the bridge

“This bridge will be of an enormous help to the state of Michigan and the industries that call it home —including our valuable automotive sector,” Dingell said. “It will allow for more efficient international transfer of our goods and services, and is sure to increase exports from our home state. More importantly, this project will create 10,000 construction jobs in Michigan, and will encourage the creation of permanent jobs that new business will bring.”

Southeastern Michigan leaders also hailed the news.

“This is great news for Michigan,” Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. “We need this critical piece of infrastructure to support trade with Canada, which provides more than 230,000 jobs in Michigan, including 41,000 jobs in Oakland County.”

The new Detroit-Windsor bridge is supported by more than 175 business, labor, and community leaders and organizations representing more than 10,000 businesses and hundreds of thousands of Michigan employees.

“This is great news for Michigan and North America. To ensure our companies can compete, they need the infrastructure to connect them to the marketplace,” said Andy Johnston, vice president of government and corporate affairs, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. “The New International Trade Crossing is a key platform for improving the flow of trade, and it will play a vital role in creating and supporting economic growth, including right here in West Michigan.”

Officials say the new bridge should boost trade between the nations while reducing congestion.

“The New International Trade Crossing expands our markets with our largest trading partner and will position Michigan as a global trade hub for decades to come,” said Paul Tait, executive director, Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG). “This bridge will make freight movement more efficient and give our border critical backup to expand our region’s standing in the market.”

Snyder has held several meetings in Washington this year with the Obama administration about the permit. Snyder’s office issued a media advisory Thursday saying the governor would hold a 2:30 p.m. news conference Friday to “discuss Michigan’s business climate and job creation at a growing Detroit business.”

Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the Governor’s Office asked him to attend the event without detailing what would take place.

Baruah said he met with Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer, about a month ago to discuss the bridge. He said Doer had recently returned from Washington after meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry about the permit.

“He indicated that he thought it was close and that Secretary Kerry gave him all of the positive signs,” Baruah said.

Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, recently filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court challenging Snyder’s authority to enter into an agreement with Canada without the Legislature’s approval. After legislation authorizing a new bridge failed to get out of a Senate committee in 2011, Snyder bypassed the Legislature and signed a deal with Canadian officials last June that calls for Canada to build the bridge.

The Obama administration has backed a new Detroit bridge crossing since 2009, when then-Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood endorsed the idea, saying it would create thousands of jobs in construction and via additional trade. In January, LaHood said federal approval for the bridge crossing was expected soon.

“We’re just about over the finish line,” LaHood said in January. “They are working on it.”

Canada agreed to front Michigan’s $550 million share of the cost, which will have to be repaid through toll revenue. The Canadians also pledged to reimburse Michigan for any expenses the state Department of Transportation incurs in connecting the new bridge to Interstate 75 through a new international plaza.

The United States and Canada have the largest trading partnership in the world, totaling over $524 billion in merchandise trade in 2010. Thirty-five states have Canada as their largest foreign trade-partner, and 57 percent — $297 billion — of U.S.-Canada trade moves by truck, according to the Michigan application.

Approximately 31 percent of truck transported trade, or $91.4 billion, between the United States and Canada passes through the Detroit River area and reaches markets across the nation.

U.S. and Canadian trade supports over 8 million U.S. jobs; approximately 237,000 Michigan jobs; and 1 in 3 Canadian jobs. The Detroit-Windsor border is the busiest trade corridor on the U.S.-Canada border and the second busiest trade corridor in North America.

New bridge to Canada gets presidential permit

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By Paul Egan and Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press Staff Writers

LANSING – The presidential permit for the New International Trade Crossing has been approved, and the announcement will be made today in Detroit by Gov. Rick Snyder, the Free Press has learned.

Jeff Holyfield, a spokesman for Snyder, said the governor will be in Detroit today for an economic development announcement, but he would not confirm the news about the presidential permit.

“We’re not saying anything at this time about that one,” Holyfield said.

But sources close to the development confirmed to the Free Press that the permit for the bridge project would be announced today. One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the U.S. State Department had signed off on the permit Thursday and notified ambassadors for both countries and Snyder.

The Windsor Star, citing anonymous sources, first reported the development Thursday evening.

Officials have been invited to a news conference in Detroit this afternoon, but the announcement was being kept close to the vest, even among the proponents for the new crossing.

One supporter who has worked closely with the project received an invitation to an event with the governor at 2 p.m. today — “a press conference occurring Friday afternoon regarding Michigan’s economic future” — with no mention of the long-awaited bridge.

The event is at James Group International, a company that does packaging, freight forwarding and warehousing and has been a supporter of the new bridge. In 2011, John James, chairman and CEO of the company, called the building of a new bridge “a tremendous growth opportunity.”

This permit for the bridge is one of the last steps required before construction can begin on the new bridge. The State Department signs off on all international crossings, but this one took longer than some expected; it was applied for last summer.

Last week, a State Department official told the Free Press that the department had received about 15,000 comments on the proposed crossing.

Snyder signed an agreement with Canada to build a public bridge across the Detroit River after the Legislature wouldn’t approve the plan. The Canadian government has offered to pay Michigan’s $550-million share of the $2.1-billion overall cost of the NITC bridge.

The development is opposed by Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun, who has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., to block the project.

Hamish Hume, the lawyer for the Moroun family’s interests in Washington, said Monday that if a presidential permit was issued while they were seeking an injunction to block it, Moroun’s bridge company would — as soon as possible — file an expedited motion with the U.S. district judge hearing the case in Washington.

The Detroit International Bridge Co. is arguing that the process by which the permit for a new border crossing can be issued is unconstitutional because when Congress gave the State Department that power in 1972, it did not outline a specific principle to apply when deciding such cases.

Also, the bridge company argues that because it was created by legislation in both Congress and the Canadian Parliament in 1921 — predating the 1972 bridge act — it would take legislation in both to allow a rival bridge to be built.

A Long-Awaited Presidential Go-Ahead…for a Bridge

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The Wall Street Journal

By Karen Johnson

Canada finally received a long-awaited U.S. presidential permit Friday–just not the one that many in Canada have been waiting for.

The U.S. State Department Friday gave the state of Michigan the green light to build, maintain and operate a bridge spanning the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. In a release, the State Department said the new international trade crossing “would serve the national interest.”

Some Canadians—including the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper– are anxiously awaiting another presidential permit—for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline extension that would bring heavy crude from the oil sands of Alberta south to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. The pipeline would help ease transportation bottlenecks that have been weighing on the price of Canadian oil.

The Detroit-Windsor bridge would be the third international connections between the two cities, joining the 84-year-old Ambassador Bridge and the 83-year-old Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Those two links are the busiest, and second-busiest, border crossings in North America, respectively, funneling tourists and trade between the two countries.

Canada agreed last year to provide as much as $550 million to build the new six-lane bridge, which would relieve congestion at the border. Under the deal, the private sector will cover the rest of the costs, sparing the already stretched Michigan taxpayers from having to pony up.

Click here to read the full story.

New Detroit-Windsor crossing reportedly to be announced today

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By David Shepardson and Chad Livengood
The Detroit News

A presidential permit is moving forward for a new Detroit River bridge crossing, a decision that is expected to be announced as early as today that clears a last hurdle in constructing the $2 billion project.

A congressional aide briefed on the matter said Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to announce the approval from President Barack Obama today, and said the State Department has scheduled a telephone briefing for members of Congress.

Tom Shields, spokesman for the Coalition Supporting the New International Trade Crossing, said late Thursday that Snyder’s office invited him to attend a news conference today at the James Group International on West Fort Street, near the site of the new bridge, without saying what would be announced.

“I’m planning on being there and hopeful that it’s good news (for the bridge),” Shields told The News.

The Windsor Star reported late Thursday that Snyder will be joined at the news conference this afternoon by Canadian officials to announce the State Department presidential permit has been approved for the bridge between Windsor and southwest Detroit, a move needed to start construction of the $2.1 billion span.

The Canadian Embassy in Washington and White House did not respond to messages late Thursday to comment. Snyder spokesman Jeff Holyfield would neither confirm nor deny the Windsor Star report.

On Thursday, Snyder told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that “the bridge is making progress.”

“The presidential permit’s the next step and I hope we get that permit anytime,” Snyder said. “So we’re right on the edge and moving forward with it.”

Snyder has held several meetings in Washington this year with the Obama administration about the permit. Snyder’s office issued a media advisory Thursday saying the governor would hold a 2:30 p.m. news conference today to “discuss Michigan’s business climate and job creation at a growing Detroit business.”

Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the Governor’s Office asked him to attend the event without detailing what would take place.

Baruah said he met with Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer, about a month ago to discuss the bridge. He said Doer had recently returned from Washington after meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry about the permit.

“He indicated that he thought it was close and that Secretary Kerry gave him all of the positive signs,” Baruah said.

The decision comes as several lawsuits have been filed to stop the new bridge, which would compete with the privately owned Ambassador Bridge. The Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the Ambassador Bridge and is controlled by Manuel (Matty) Moroun, filed suit in Washington trying to block the span. Moroun spent millions trying to convince Michigan voters in a referendum last November to block the bridge.

Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, recently filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court challenging Snyder’s authority to enter into an agreement with Canada without the Legislature’s approval. After legislation authorizing a new bridge failed to get out of a Senate committee in 2011, Snyder bypassed the Legislature and signed a deal with Canadian officials last June that calls for Canada to build the bridge.

The Obama administration has backed a new Detroit bridge crossing since 2009, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood endorsed the idea, saying it would create thousands of jobs in construction and via additional trade. In January, LaHood said federal approval for the bridge crossing was expected soon.

“We’re just about over the finish line,” LaHood said in January. “They are working on it.”

Canada agreed to front Michigan’s $550 million share of the cost, which will have to be repaid through toll revenue. The Canadians also pledged to reimburse Michigan for any expenses the state Department of Transportation incurs in connecting the new bridge to Interstate 75 through a new international plaza.

The United States and Canada have the largest trading partnership in the world, totaling over $524 billion in merchandise trade in 2010. Thirty-five states have Canada as their largest foreign trade-partner, and 57 percent — $297 billion — of U.S.-Canada trade moves by truck, according to the Michigan application.

Approximately 31 percent of truck transported trade, or $91.4 billion, between the United States and Canada passes through the Detroit River area and reaches markets across the nation.

U.S. and Canadian trade supports over 8 million U.S. jobs; approximately 237,000 Michigan jobs; and 1 in 3 Canadian jobs. The Detroit-Windsor border is the busiest trade corridor on the U.S.-Canada border and the second busiest trade corridor in North America.

Podcast: Are River Crossing Lawsuits a “Bridge Too Far”?

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Michigan is still waiting for a presidential permit to move ahead with construction of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Meanwhile, a pair of lawsuits have been filed to stop the project. One suit was filed by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge. The other was filed by Detroit mayoral candidate Fred Durhal, a state lawmaker who says Governor Rick Snyder is illegally sidestepping the Legislature. WDET’s Pat Batcheller asked Canadian Consul General Roy Norton when he expects the presidential permit to be granted, and whether there’s any indication that it won’t be. Click here to listen the conversation.