LEWISTON, N.Y., (April 19, 2005) — The Bridge and Tunnel Operators Association — composed of ten organizations responsible for the operation of eleven major crossings between the U.S. and Canada — is the latest group to speak out against U.S. Homeland Security’s plan to require Canadian and U.S. citizens to show their passport upon entering the States.

Presently, driver’s licences and birth certificates are the acceptable documents for identification.

The association says the rule — which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2008 for truck drivers — would have a damaging impact upon border communities, the economies of many states and provinces, and the ability of crossing operators to fund border infrastructure improvements. Truck drivers can also use FAST cards instead of passports to comply with the rule.

“The Bridge & Tunnel Operators Association join with the State Department in encouraging Americans and Canadians to acquire passports, or enroll in the NEXUS or FAST programs as a more desirable means of identification,” BTOA President Thomas Garlock said in a statement. “However, making passports mandatory will end almost all casual travel over the border and threaten the close personal ties that border communities have shared for 150 years.”

All crossing operators are concerned that their financial positions will be jeopardized by lower volumes, leading to a need to increase tolls or, for the first time, subsidies for their operations from taxpayer sources. This would come at a time when many of the crossings are engaged in capital projects intended to support border security and the facilitation of trade, the group said.

However, there’s a chance the rule may be amended or repealed. Recently U.S. President George Bush expressed concerns with his own administration’s plans and called for a review of the passport rule.

Speaking to the American Society of Newspaper Editors last week, Bush said: “When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly the day-crossings that take place … I said, ‘What’s going on here?

“I thought there was a better way to expedite the legal flow of traffic and people.”