Staff Writer
The county’s congressional delegation have asked federal customs officials to winterize the temporary port of entry established at Van Buren and to build a new structure at the border.
In letters to the U.S. Customer and Border Protection and the General Services Administration, U.S. Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins, and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud made the request.
As a result of flooding earlier this year, the “old, dilapidated structure” between Van Buren and St. Leonard, N. B. was heavily damaged. The original building was built along the St. John River on a landfill in 1964. Delegation members said that a proposal to repair the building, which has asbestos tiles disrupted and structural problems, is “unacceptable.”
The Van Buren port of entry has experienced increasing traffic in recent years. It processes more than 24,000 loads of cargo a year.
“Van Buren has the ability to accommodate nearly every type of vehicle from commercial traffic holding a permit, passenger vehicles, rail cars, sea planes and snowmobiles,” said Snowe’s and Collins’s letter. “This is an essential facility to the area and certainly to CBP as a whole.”
Michaud’s letter pointed out that the port of entry, before the flooding, was not adequate to complete the mission of the Department of Homeland Security. Michaud said that there was inadequate separation between the public and the officer. The building didn’t have an interrogation room or holding cells, according to Michaud.
“The current temporary space is much more adequate and provides a safer working environment for the staff,” Michaud wrote.
With proper steps to make the building habitable during the winter months and a canopy to protect the staff, the temporary facility would be adequate until a new building is constructed, Michaud said.
During a nomination hearing last week of James Williams, the next GSA administrator, Collins raised the issue of a new port of entry. Collins is a ranking member of the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Collins’s statement said that Williams “ensured” her that winterization plans and new construction are on the table and will be a top priority if nominated.
