FHWA And Terrorism

The opponents of the Bridge Company are so stupid. Matty Moroun and his colleagues need not do anything and these people make the case for the Enhancement Project Bridge to be built immediately! They just need to sit back and relax and let these people self-destruct.

The US Homeland Security Department has no choice but to demand that President Obama take a hard look at the US Federal Highway Administration if they were so ridiculous as to consider the public release of a report containing details on the Ambassador Bridge. I know some at FHWA are supportive of a DRIC Bridge but seriously....

• "the report, which was written by the bridge company and submitted to the Michigan Department of Transportation...
  
  The office of U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., had requested the report from the federal department under the Freedom of Information Act."
  
  "DIBC was advised by counsel for the Federal Highway Administration on September 25, 2009, that the Federal Highway Administration intends to publicly disclose the 2007 Inspection Report, despite the threat to national security by the threatened disclosure,” the suit says.
  
  James Steele, FHA’s Michigan division administrator who is also named in the lawsuit, said his office was going to release the report because of a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request."

Interesting the circuitous route taken don't you think? Why not approach MDOT directly! Obviously, because MDOT would have had to say NO! Nice try though.

It even gets more curious:

• "The bridge company has offered to let Dingell see the report himself, but doesn’t want it released beyond officials.
  
  “Our concern is the secondary and tertiary distribution. This is the most confidential information about the bridge and its vulnerabilities and what we do to address them. That is confidential for a reason,” Blashfield said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a congressmen, citizen or reporter, the information is confidential.”
  
  Blashfield said he didn’t know why the congressman requested the 2007 report and not the subsequent 2008 and 2009 reports."

But of course, we understand the reason for this happening at this time and getting all of this publicity: the Michigan Budget debate over whether money should be allocated for the DRIC project. The nasty Bridge Company must be stopped regardless and the DRIC Bridge allowed to go forward even if terrorists get information useful to them if the report was released publicly.

Of course the Bridge Company had to sue to stop this. Ergo the headlines.

The Congressman could have seen the report. In fact he did. However that would not do at all. Now the lawsuit allowed the Congressman's office to say in an anti-Bridge Company attack:

• "Rep. John Dingell received a copy early Monday of the 2007 inspection report from the agency following a February request, according to his chief of staff Michael Robbins in Washington. Staff are reviewing the document, he said.
  
  "You can look up the safety rating of a car before you buy it, you can look up the structural deficiency of a public bridge before you drive across it, yet the Ambassador Bridge does not have to play by the same rules," Dingell said in a statement released to The Star on Monday.
  
  "The safety of the driving public should be the top priority for the Federal Highway Administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation regardless of whether or not a bridge or its bridge operators are public or private.
  
  "Thousands of individuals and truckers use the Ambassador Bridge every day and I believe they are entitled to know the state of the Ambassador Bridge before doing so."

Ok, so much for political games. Now the reality. The Windsor Star claims:

• "Sources have indicated to the Star the inspection report pointed to a need within a couple of years for the replacement of the bridge's road deck -- a massive undertaking that threatens to disrupt traffic on the bridge and possibly force its closure if it is not addressed soon."

Isn't that exactly what the Bridge Company has been saying as one of the justifications for its Enhancement Project Bridge. It is cheaper for them to take the old bridge out of circulation once the new one is completed to do repairs than to try and do them with traffic. The savings alone in construction costs would help pay a good chunk of the money required for their new bridge!

The Bridge Company opponents have just demonstrated that the Enhancement Project Bridge must be built immediately to prevent economic devastation to the region and to Canada and US trade, especially since the DRIC Bridge has been delayed to 2015 or later!

Oh and in case you were wondering, Dan Stamper at the Canadian Senate hearings said that they had no objections to the security and safety provisions of the International Bridges and Tunnels Act. Moreover, it was Dan Stamper who told the MDOT reps at the Michigan Senate hearings, since they must have forgotten, that the Gateway Project Agreement required safety reports to be prepared! As I Blogged before:

• "Dan Stamper trotted out the legal Agreements signed between the Bridge Company, FHWA and MDOT respecting the Ambassador Gateway project that gave the Government oversight over the Company including the provision of information respecting the condition of the Bridge!
  
  Why didn’t the representative of MDOT know that? It is inconceivable to me that people being put forward as spokespersons for the Department would not know this fact and yet still make the outrageous comment they did. Why?"

So keep up the attacks on the Bridge Company, prevent them from doing what is required, cause a security risk, disrupt commerce...all to try to scare the Michigan Senators into allowing DRIC to move forward.

What fools we have around us! But then again, they are secure in their jobs and pensions aren't they!