Passport to economic burdens

Ken Johnston

About two dozen people, mostly Americans, met at the Lake of the Woods Government Building Saturday with U.S. Senator Norm Coleman about the impending new laws requiring both US and Canadian citizens to carry a passport.
Due to take effect for land border crossings on January 1, 2008, Coleman said, “We need to reflect on the impact and how it will affect the little guy.”
Coleman said that often Washington, D.C., creates laws without actually thinking how they will affect the average everyday person. Being an avid angler in the Lake of the Woods area, Coleman said he knows first hand that the border towns in Northern Minnesota will be affected dramatically by the new law. With that in mind, he chose to bring Ann Barrett, the Managing Director of Passport Services, on a three stop tour of Warroad, Baudette and International Falls to hear just how the new law will affect local people.
In Warroad the biggest surprise to Barrett was the Northwest Angle where resorts and residents must cross into Canada to get to the U.S. mainland and vice versa to return. Resort owners there feel the new law requiring their customers to have a passport at a cost of about $100 U.S. per person may negatively impact their business in that some customers will simply say enough is enough and stay elsewhere in the U.S.
In Baudette County Commissioner Todd Beckel raised two concerns regarding emergency services and sports programs between Rainy River and Baudette. “Will volunteer firemen or ambulance drivers have to carry a passport and stop to show it when crossing the border to aid in an emergency?” asked Beckel.
Barrett said, “I would think we would keep existing agreements in place for emergency personnel.”
At present Rainy River and Baudette have a mutual aid agreement to cover each other in the event of a fire or other emergencies. And sometimes the ambulance services overlap as well.
Beckel also raised the spectre of the highly integrated sports programs between Rainy River and Baudette. “My wife coaches hockey and crosses the border to coach and practise every week. Will each of those kids have to carry a passport?”
Barrett said, “yes.”
That raised concerns of others present especially Mike Dornhecker, Vice-president of Manufacturing and Marketing for Solvay Pharmaceutical in Baudette. “Families are going to be impacted by this. Cost of passports may make it too expensive for some families to play hockey... a sport that is already very expensive.”
Dornhecker also worried what kind of retaliation Canada might propose for US citizens going to Canada.
Barrett said Canadians will have to carry a passport. However, she did say the law reads in a way that a passport will be recognized as an acceptable form of I.D. for entering the U.S. but it also leaves a loop hole for “other and or a combination of other acceptable documents.” She noted there is some work being done to create a passport card that might be less costly and be only good for land based crossings.
So is the passport requirement a done deal?
Sen. Coleman said it is not. He noted that the rules for the new law have not been published as of yet. Barrett could not give a firm date as to when they will be published but felt that it would be within the next few weeks. Once that happens Coleman said the public needs to go on line and offer their input on the new law and suggestions how to make it work better.
Another issue with the new law that was raised by LoW Chamber of Commerce V.P. Tanya Hasbargen was the fact that the public is very poorly educated on it. Both Barrett and Coleman agreed on that point, pledging to do a better job getting the word out on it.
Coleman said that with the rules for the new law coming so late and the fact that the public is poorly educated, “I fully expect the (first) phase-in date will be pushed back.” That date is Jan. 1, 2006 when all travellers by air and sea to or from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America will need passports to get into the U.S.
The next phase takes effect Dec. 31, 2006 and will require all travellers by air and sea to or from Mexico and Canada to have passports.
Finally after Dec. 31, 2007 all air, sea and land travellers seeking entry into the U.S. will need passports.
Many present at the meeting felt the passport requirement will be, “just another barrier to tourists.”
Ed Arneson, LoW County Commissioner, also noted that while the idea behind the passport requirement is to provide better security at the border, he noted, “We have to patrol a vast area in our county alone. The (approx.) $8,000 we receive from the state to police it would not pay for the fuel in the vehicles to patrol the lake and land all year long.”
He and others present suggested that there could be better ways to enhance security along the border rather than the passport initiative. One suggestion would be to put a cell tower on the lake to improve communications on it and allow the public to be better eyes and ears for authorities.
“You can pile up paper work this high but still not make it safer,” said Com. Arneson.
Greg Hennum of Sportsman’s Lodge said that they often help their guests make trips into Canada when visiting. However, he said that most won’t want to tack another $100 per person onto their vacation to do it. “I feel sorry for the Canadian resorts. I don’t know what they are going to do.”
Hennum said that guests are also fed up with the wait times at the border going both ways.
However, Barrett said, “The passport will probably make it easier (to cross) having standardized documents.”
Coleman echoed those comments saying, “People may have less hassle with a passport (at the border).”
The rules for the new law will be published in the Federal Registry at www.gpoaccess.gov and the program is called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Public comments will be taken for 60 days.
Coleman said, “We don’t have all the answers but we need all the questions.” Both he and Barrett encouraged everyone to log on and offer their input when the rules are published.