Reynolds, Higgins attack security plans

We reported last week of the plan by DHS to regulate more tightly recreational boats and small airplanes. The move was greeted by a chrous of criticism, and the latest to join the choir are Representative Thomas Reynolds (R-New York) and Representative Brian Higgins (D-New York), both also accusing DHS of underestimating the economic impact of requiring travelers to show passports at U.S.-Canadian border crossings.

The Buffalo News Tom Buckham reports that DHS will propose to require boaters to take a proficiency test, carry a new form of government-issued identification, and equip their craft with expensive transmitters. These measures, said Reynolds, would have “a chilling effect” on boaters and boatmakers. “If the passport fiasco is any indication, recreational boaters should be very wary of these potential regulations,” Reynolds said.

With a Fuhrmann Boulevard marina as a backdrop, Reynolds said that, in addition to tests and new identification requirements, the department might set up a new database listing every licensed boat owner and wants every boat to carry an electronic transmitter costing $500 to $1,000. He urged the department to work with boating trade associations and marinas “to develop a security plan that is both workable and plausible.” Recreational boaters can be the “eyes and ears” of maritime security “if [the Homeland Security Department] just gets out of the way,” he added.

Higgins, a Buffalo area Democrat, noted that DHS had based its estimate that the passport requirement would cost the U.S. economy only $200 million annually on a projected 3.7 percent decrease in crossings by frequent travelers and a 10.7 percent to 10.9 percent drop in casual travel. Noting that DHS has eliminated the passport requirement for sea cruises because it supposedly would lead to a 74.4 percent decrease in short cruises, Higgins asked: “How can it be that…casual, infrequent visits to Buffalo by Torontonians would decrease by only 10.7 to 10.9 percent?”

“From their misguided justification for a northern border passport mandate to their inability to process the very passports they are requiring, this administration has demonstrated gross incompetence,” Higgins added.