Tag Archives: Matty Moroun

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.

Jarvis: ‘King of the world!’

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Moroun has lost a lot of lawsuits the last several years. But even when he loses, he wins, because every day he staves off construction of the new bridge, he maintains his lucrative monopoly.

The Windsor Star

Anne Jarvis

It is a pivotal point in the long and controversial quest for a new bridge at the busiest commercial border crossing in North America: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will announce at a news conference in Detroit today that U.S. President Barack Obama has signed the permit to build the new government bridge between Windsor’s Brighton Beach and Delray in west Detroit.

The permit is the last approval required. But will it be the end of the epic battle between the governments of two countries, one province, one state and an 85-year-old man, Matty Moroun, owner of the competing Ambassador Bridge? Even before the permit was signed, it was reported that Moroun was already seeking an injunction against it so a court can hear his latest lawsuit.

A “perpetual and exclusive franchise right.” That’s what Moroun claims in the lawsuit against the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The government can’t build its planned new bridge over the Detroit River because Moroun’s monopoly is sacrosanct. He has supreme and almighty power until the end of time over one of the most important border crossings in the world, key to the economies of two nations and the jobs and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people.

That’s what Moroun is arguing.

Picture the slightly stooped octogenarian leaning over the rail at the centre of his bridge, arms spread a la Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Titanic, wisps of white hair blowing in the wind: “I’m the king of the world!”

The absurd claim drew a rare good line from Windsor West MP Brian Masse.

“What’s their next step – declaring themselves as their own independent country?” he quipped to The Windsor Star’s Dave Battagello.

After the permit is dealt with, the next step is for Canada, which is paying for the crossing, to start acquiring land. Much of the property needed is owned by, yes, Moroun. It will probably have to be expropriated. And yes, there will indubitably be more lawsuits over that.

Moroun has lost a lot of lawsuits the last several years. But even when he loses, he wins, because every day he staves off construction of the new bridge, he maintains his lucrative monopoly. But get this; the irony is too much: his latest lawsuit, according to a report in The Detroit Free Press, also seeks to stop the U.S. government from delaying approval of the Ambassador Bridge’s proposed twin span.

A Democratic state representative from Detroit has also filed a lawsuit claiming Snyder had no legal right to sign an agreement with Prime Minister Stephen Harper last June to build the new bridge.

Rep. Fred Durhal has received more than $7,000 in campaign contributions from Moroun’s family since 2010. Could that explain his lawsuit? As rich as he is, Moroun doesn’t give money to politicians for nothing. He gives money to politicians to further his interests. By the way, Durhal is running for mayor of Detroit. Elections in the U.S. are expensive. This lawsuit should earn him more campaign contributions from Moroun. (Voters in Detroit should pay attention. The city needs a mayor to represent  its best interests, not the interests of the billionaire who installs the mayor in office.)

And it can’t escape notice that Durhal’s lawyer is Godfrey Dillard. I remember Dillard well from that stunning day when Judge Prentis Edwards of the Third Circuit Court sent Moroun to jail for contempt in flouting an order to complete his share of a highway project with the state. Dillard was Moroun’s lawyer. Quite a coincidence he’s Durhal’s lawyer, too.

Snyder bypassed the legislature to sign the agreement to build the new bridge because he couldn’t get the votes he needed in the Senate, Durhal told the Detroit News. But, as the governor’s office pointed out, that’s not true. The issue was never put to a vote. It never got past the Senate’s economic development committee. The three members of the committee who voted it down got money from Moroun, either directly or from political action committees that got money from him. One got $4,000 directly and another got $535,767 from political action committees.

Durhal also argued that the governor can’t commit the state to pay for a bridge without the approval of legislators. Except, Michigan isn’t paying for the bridge. Canada is. We’re paying the state’s share of $550 million, to be repaid through tolls.

What motivates a person like Moroun? A perennial member of Forbes Magazine’s list of the richest people in the world, with an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion, he has far more money than one person could reasonably spend. He lords over a business empire. He could have worked with government and played a major role in securing the new bridge. He could have been heralded as a forward-thinking businessman who helped usher North American trade into the new century. Instead, his legacy will be this: the man who trampled all over people, busting up neighbourhoods on both sides of the border, in relentless pursuit of his monopoly.

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.

Editorial: Kerry should sign Detroit bridge permit

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State Department’s approval is the next step in what remains a contentious process to get second span built

The Detroit News

Remember that new bridge that’s scheduled to be built across the Detroit River to Windsor? After dominating the policy conversation for years in Michigan, not much has been said about the second span since last fall, when voters rejected a ballot proposal to block its construction.

It’s time to get things moving.

A good place to start would be for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to sign the presidential permit necessary to begin construction. After Gov. Rick Snyder inked the deal with Canada last June, the proposed deal was sent to Washington for the State Department’s approval.

The approval process included a public comment period, which ended in early September, and then assessments from the usual suspects — the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Services Agency, National Security Council and the departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, Transportation, Justice and Treasury.

They all have weighed in, with no indication of concerns that would block the bridge. All that’s left is for Kerry to put his name on the permit.

Once that happens, the Canadian government, which is paying for the crossing, can begin acquiring land — not an easy task, since much of the property needed for the bridge is owned by litigious Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun and will likely have to be obtained through the condemnation process — and doing preliminary site work. If the permit comes this spring and work isn’t held up by lawsuits, actual construction of the bridge could begin summer 2014.

But the lawsuits are a factor. Moroun has filed one in federal court in Washington, D.C., contending the agreement Snyder signed violates a contract he holds guaranteeing him the sole right to operate bridges across the Detroit River.

Another suit, filed by state Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, in Ingham County Circuit Court, challenges Snyder’s authority to bypass the Legislature and make the deal with Canada.

These suits and the ones that will surely emanate from land acquisition are bound to slow the building of the bridge, an endeavor that will create 13,000 to 20,000 construction jobs over the course of five years.

That makes getting an early start vital.

Kerry is new on the job and understandably has higher priorities — the Korean crisis, for example, and his effort to bring the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table. And other projects have been waiting much longer for approval, most notably the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which has been on hold for five years.

But this bridge is one of the most important construction projects in the nation and has the potential to boost the economy not just with construction jobs, but by easing the trade route between the U.S. and Canada.

The State Department may be worried about stepping into the legal fight between Moroun and Snyder, and the federal lawsuit may be giving it some pause.

Michigan and the nation need this bridge. The sooner Kerry gives his OK, the sooner the next phase of the fight to get it built can begin.

Moroun sues to protect Ambassador Bridge monopoly

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In the lawsuit, the Detroit International Bridge Co., the family business controlled by Manuel (Matty) Moroun that owns the 84-year-old Ambassador Bridge, claims a “perpetual and exclusive franchise right” to operate the crossing free of competition from another span.

Matty Moroun’s company sues U.S. leaders, Canada to stop competing span

By Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press Washington Staff

WASHINGTON – The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has filed a lawsuit against a number of federal officials — the U.S. secretaries of state, transportation and homeland security among them — and the Canadian government as the company tries to block the building of a rival Detroit River bridge, and force approval for its own second span to Windsor.

The new complaint, now quietly winding its way through federal court in Washington, D.C., was filed in February but was dated Nov. 9, just three days after last year’s referendum in which Michigan voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have required a statewide and local vote before the state spent any money on a new international bridge or tunnel to Canada.

In the lawsuit, the Detroit International Bridge Co., the family business controlled by Manuel (Matty) Moroun that owns the 84-year-old Ambassador Bridge, claims a “perpetual and exclusive franchise right” to operate the crossing free of competition from another span. It says the proposed New International Trade Crossing would “destroy” the value of its franchise, and argues that the process by which the State Department would approve a deal between Michigan and Canada to build the rival bridge is unconstitutional.

“No one’s ever argued it. It’s never really come up,” said Hamish Hume, a lawyer at Boies, Schiller & Flexner in Washington, which represents the bridge company. His argument: A 1972 act giving the State Department authority to approve international bridges is unconstitutional because Congress never spelled out, as Hume says it needed to, what principle to use in making its decisions.

A decision on the presidential permit needed to move forward on the NITC bridge could be announced at any time by Secretary of State John Kerry, but the bridge company already is seeking an injunction against such a permit. It will be weeks, however, before all the various agencies named in the complaint — which was added to a lawsuit involving the Coast Guard filed three years ago — respond to the court.

Most of those involved declined to talk at length about the lawsuit, though Gary Doer, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., said he is “confident of both the merits and the legality of the (NITC) bridge.”

Ken Silfven, spokesman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said the complaint “is nothing that we didn’t anticipate.”

“We expected these delay tactics based on their track record,” he said. “After all is said and done, though, the bridge will be built.”

The bridge company is looking for a judgment that its franchise rights are “exclusive of all contiguous and injurious competition in the form of any other bridge between Detroit and Windsor” and to stop other agencies, including those coming under Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, from putting up obstacles or otherwise delaying approvals for a second Ambassador Bridge span.

As of last week, State Department personnel said officials were still working on the NITC application, noting some 15,000 comments had been received on it. The lawsuit, they said, had no bearing on the timing of a decision.

Government lawyers declined to talk about the complaint, but made clear in court filings their position that the process for issuing a presidential permit — a responsibility granted to the executive branch by Congress in 1972 — meets constitutional muster. In filings, they called the bridge company’s arguments “futile.”

Hume said if the State Department were to issue a permit to the NITC, the bridge company would look to a judge to block it under the points raised in the complaint.

“It’s pretty obvious they (the bridge company) are throwing whatever they can at the wall and hope something sticks,” said Andrew Finn, an expert on Canada and border policy at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

But Finn didn’t completely reject what he called “the closer question” of a lawsuit against the State Department should it approve a presidential permit for the new rival bridge. Besides the constitutional question, the argument would be that while Congress gave the president authority to approve international crossings in 1972, the creation of the Ambassador Bridge predates that, with legislation passed by both Congress and the Canadian parliament in 1921.

The bridge company also has taken the position that those acts were tantamount to a treaty and created a franchise that can’t be destroyed without superseding acts by both legislatures, despite the fact that dozens of presidential permits have been issued over the years.

“I think what they’re saying is, we’re special and this is the one place you can’t do it,” Finn said. He didn’t find the argument convincing, but said it’s always possible a judge could disagree.

Certainly, the case has settled into a more esoteric part of the law. Few experts could be found with experience in litigating such a question regarding an international crossing and Hume acknowledged there have been few bridge permits granted in cases like this for agreements between a state and a foreign power, which he argues are prohibited.

In the 1980s, the owner of a bridge in Presidio, Texas, failed in his attempt to get the Supreme Court to block a neighboring bridge from being built, though some of the claims raised were different than those here.

The Canadian government has offered to pay Michigan’s $550-million share of the $2.1-billion overall cost of the NITC bridge, but the complaint said there is no economic justification for the new bridge.

The bridge company argues in the complaint that 75% of its truck traffic and 40% of its passenger traffic could be diverted to the new bridge, reflecting “a long-standing desire on the part of the Canadian government to eliminate private ownership of the Detroit-Windsor bridge crossing.”

Also in February, state Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, filed a lawsuit in Ingham County against Snyder, claiming the governor can’t enter into an agreement with Canada without legislative approval.

Moroun’s lawyers are back at it with new lawsuit

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State rep sues to overturn Snyder-Canada bridge deal

By Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing — A state lawmaker from Detroit is seeking to derail Gov. Rick Snyder’s partnership with the Canadian government to build a Detroit River bridge to Windsor.

Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, recently filed a lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court challenging Snyder’s legal authority to enter into an agreement with Canada without the Legislature’s approval.

Durhal announced the suit Friday.

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 a $2.1 billion bridge from Windsor to southwest Detroit.

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.

Durhal’s complaint contends Snyder has violated constitutional separation of powers and committed the state to eventually paying for the bridge without approval of the Legislature, which controls the purse strings of state government.

“The governor has circumvented the Michigan constitution in order to achieve through the side door what he couldn’t through the front door,” Durhal said Friday.

“Because he couldn’t get the votes he needed in the Senate to get it done, he’s going around the Legislature to create this agreement that the Legislature has no input whatsoever in.”

Snyder has said he had authority to enter into the agreement without the Legislature’s permission under the Urban Cooperation Act and state constitution.

“The Legislature was clear that it didn’t want to take up the issue, and that’s fine,” Snyder spokesman Ken Silfven said. “We respect the fact that (the Legislature) has a full plate of other issues to deal with.”

The Snyder administration is waiting for a presidential permit from the federal government before construction of the New International Trade Crossing can begin.

Durhal, who is running for mayor of Detroit, denied Friday he filed the lawsuit to draw attention to his campaign. “This is not for political reasons,” he said.

Durhal’s lawyer, Godfrey Dillard, has worked for Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun, who has waged a multi-million dollar political campaign to stop construction of a crossing that would compete for truck traffic with his 86-year-old bridge.

Durhal denied he’s suing Snyder at the behest of the billionaire trucking mogul.

Michigan may allow hazardous materials across Ambassador Bridge

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The idea is ‘ludicrous’: NDP MP Brian Masse

By JESSICA BRUNO | The Hill Times

Canada’s busiest international truck crossing may soon be getting even busier, if the Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit is approved to carry trucks holding hazardous materials across the border, despite opposition on both sides of the Detroit River.

The Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, is seeking permission from the Michigan government to let trucks carrying gas, propane, and other flammable and corrosive chemicals across the bridge.

The Michigan Department of Transportation has been looking at the issue since 2010, and in December it released a report that recommended some hazardous materials be allowed to cross the bridge.

Under the proposed new rules, trucks carrying gases and chemicals would require Ambassador Bridge escort vehicles to make the trip across the span with them.

“It’s ludicrous and it’s irresponsible to consider putting our most important piece of infrastructure at-risk unnecessarily,” said NDP MP Brian Masse (Windsor West, Ont.) who represents the area of Windsor around the bridge. Exceptions include explosives and radioactive materials.

In Detroit, the area’s state representative, Democrat Rashida Tlaib, is also concerned about transporting hazardous materials across the bridge, and through densely populated urban areas.

“Given the age and security requirements of the Ambassador Bridge, opening it up for transport of dangerous hazmat, as the [MDOT] report suggests, endangers the public,” Ms. Tlaib wrote to her constituents, according to a Jan. 23 story in Detroit’s Metro Times.

The Department of Transportation is currently inviting public input on the proposal, and Mr. Masse said he is almost done preparing a submission against the move.

Mr. Masse said he’s concerned about accidents involving hazardous materials on the bridge or in the highly populated area nearby.

“Not only is the risk factor on the bridge, but it will certainly be an increased risk factor with the general public,” he said.

The Ambassador Bridge is 83 years old, and transporting hazardous materials across it has been banned since it was constructed in 1929.

The bridge’s owners requested that the Department of Transportation look into transporting dangerous materials across the bridge in 2008, because of recent upgrades to the highway leading to and from the crossing, explained Ambassador Bridge President Dan Stamper.

There are now on and off ramps that lead directly from the nearby highway to the bridge. Previously, traffic would have to go through local Detroit streets, Mr. Stamper said.

According to the Michigan report, there have been 15 truck crashes on the Ambassador Bridge between 2000 and 2006. In that same time period, the report states there have been 67 releases of hazardous materials in the Detroit area.

On average every day across the U.S., hazardous materials make one million trips, noted Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson Rob Morosi.

Adding to traffic congestion at the border crossing is another concern, said Mr. Masse.

“It’s another layer of vehicle traffic that the just-in-time delivery will have to compete against,” Mr. Masse said.

Every day, more than 8,000 trucks cross the Ambassador Bridge, which is Canada’s busiest border crossing, noted Minister of Transport Denis Lebel (Roberval-Lac Saint Jean, Que.) in a column for this week’s transportation policy briefing in The Hill Times.

If the bridge is allowed to carry hazardous materials, the increase in truck traffic would likely be just a few dozen more vehicles a day, said Mr. Stamper.

The bridge carries 25 per cent of Canada-U.S. merchandise trade, worth almost $500-million a day, according to the bridge company.

Mr. Stamper said that while any bump in profits would not be very big, the benefit to truckers would be significant.

Right now, trucks carrying hazardous materials cross use the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry.

“It can be a huge benefit to carriers who have to go way out of their way to cross the river, and it would save them a lot of money,” he said.

Commercial vehicles crossing the bridge pay a toll of between $3.25 and $5.25 an axle. At current rates, which don’t include a premium for hazardous materials, a typical semi-trailer truck with five axles would pay $26.25 to cross the bridge one way.

The ferry operates between 7 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. and it would cost a tractor trailer carrying hazardous materials would $115 U.S. to cross one way. To get to the ferry stations on both sides of the border, trucks must exit the highway and use local streets on the edge of the city.

The ferry is located about a 10-minute drive south on either side of the Ambassador Bridge.

The ferry has operated “incident free” for 20 years, said Mr. Masse, while the bridge is not built to handle hazardous material accidents.

“It’s not purpose built for these types of chemicals to go across. … As we’re designing new bridges, we’ll have containment and capture programs like they have in Sarnia, so if there is an accident with chemicals, there is going to be a way to make sure that we’re not just flushing them into the Detroit River,” he said.

Local past fire chiefs have said they are concerned about how emergency services would respond to an accident on the bridge, said Mr. Masse.

“They would be very limited with the type of equipment that they have and the type of facilities on the bridge,” said Mr. Masse.

Safety improvements are already in the works, said Mr. Stamper.

“We will have the facilities to contain any leaking vehicles with the appropriate capabilities. We’ll have people on staff that are trained to deal with those emergencies,” he said.

Depending on the exact location of an accident, either Windsor or Detroit emergency services could respond to an accident, explained Transport Canada spokesperson Karine Martel.

The response could also involve federal, provincial and state resources.

“Emergency Response Assistance Plans are required for certain dangerous goods that necessitate special expertise and response equipment.  Any person who offers to transport or import these dangerous goods must submit a plan to the [Transportation of Dangerous Goods] directorate, which will then review the plan and, if it is found adequate, will approve it,” added Ms. Martel via email.

The Michigan Department of Transportation study looked at a number of emergency situations, from gas or propane fires to chemical releases.

“While ease of travel and the efficient, economic passage of goods and commerce are high priorities, MDOT and its federal partners—the FMCSA and the PHMSA—consider safety to be a paramount consideration when it comes to transportation of hazardous materials,” states the report.

Michigan will hold a public consultation night in Detroit April 25, where the Department of Transport will make a presentation about their report. The public has until May 24 to submit their comments.

From there, the department will prepare another report for the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, and consult with stakeholders and partners, said Mr. Morosi.

Transport Canada said what is allowed on the bridge is up to the Detroit International Bridge Company, but that Canada can get involved through municipal, provincial or federal regulations on routes leading to the bridge. Any shipment of dangerous goods also has to comply with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act.

Michigan’s Department of Transportation has until June 2014 to decide whether to allow the bridge to transport hazardous material under state law, said Mr. Morosi.

Transport Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of Transport were not consulted during Michigan’s study. While Transport Canada said it is aware of Michigan’s recommendations, it hasn’t received a formal request from the bridge company to let hazardous goods across the span. Bridge owners are required under legislation to give the Canadian government 30 days notice.

In the mean time, Canada and the U.S. are planning on constructing a second bridge in the Detroit-Windsor area, called the Detroit River International Crossing. Canada has committed to paying the entire $1-billion cost of the bridge, and will recuperate its money through tolls for vehicles coming from the U.S. The goal is to complete it by 2018

The company that owns the Ambassador Bridge would like to build its own span, and is against the proposal.

Mr. Morosi said that transporting hazardous materials across the bridge is not a given.

“We have not made a final decision. All we have done to date has been a technical analysis, and again the period of public comment is part of the process to help us make an informed decision,” he said.

Top Three Busiest Canada-U.S. Border Truck Crossings

Ambassador Bridge:
Windsor, Ont. to Detroit, Mich.: about 8,000 trucks a day

Blue Water Bridge:
Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, Ont.: up to 6,000 trucks a day

Peace Bridge:
Niagara Falls, Ont. to Buffalo, N.Y., about 3,400 trucks a day

—Sources: Bridge owners; Macomb County Michigan; CBSA