It was an uphill battle, but ports should be safer soon because of legislation that will help secure cargo before it arrives on the nation’s shores, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Thursday.
Speaking at a celebration at the Port of Everett, Murray said her Green Lane Act, approved last week by Congress, is scheduled to be signed into law by the president a week from today.
“It requires every container coming into the country to be at a higher level of security,” said Murray, author of the legislation. “It will be sealed and tracked and we will know from the time that it leaves where it’s been and whether it’s been tampered with.”
In addition to tracking and monitoring cargo, the bill creates a system to resume trade after any sort of terrorist incident and establishes port security grants to pay for new equipment.
Murray noted that when there’s a terrorist incident at an airport, all flights shut down. She said similar incidents at one of the nation’s ports could be a serious disruption to the economy.
Port director John Mohr called the bill a “major milestone in the security of the nation’s ports.”
He lauded Murray for her years of work on the legislation.
Port commissioner Connie Niva noted that before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Everett port had open terminals and only minimal security. Since then, the port has received $2.3 million to install fencing, video cameras and other security equipment.
“There’s much more to do,” Niva said. “This port is the prime example of why this bill needed to pass.”
While Everett is a smaller port, Niva said, it is a significant one for national security because of its location. It sits adjacent to a military base and along the main line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
“We don’t want to have an incident where we became essentially jobless,” she said.
Mark Sullivan, president of Local 32 of the Longshoreman’s Union, said he expected more security after the 2001 terrorist attacks. “We didn’t know it would be so long a battle,” he said.
Rep. Rick Larsen said the port qualified for more federal grants this year but didn’t receive any. Noting that Everett moves 1 million tons of cargo a year, Larsen said security is clearly an important issue here.
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