Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
House members came to Tampa Port Authority headquarters to learn about securing the area.
By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2002
TAMPA -- Airport security has gotten the lion's share of attention since Sept. 11.
But local officials called attention Monday to Tampa's other port -- the seaport -- before members of the U.S. House subcommittee on national security, veterans affairs and international relations.
The committee members were in Tampa on a fact-finding mission. They hope to use the information to craft a plan that could include proposals from additional funding for port security to better coordination between federal agencies under the anticipated Department of Homeland Security.
"I think clearly there are gaps," said Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, who organized the hearing. "There's not as much coordination as there should be."
Putnam was joined by subcommittee chairman Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, and Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, who is not on the subcommittee but sat in for the discussion at the Tampa Port Authority headquarters.
With more than 2,500 sprawling acres that house everything from chemical plants to fuel tanks, the Port of Tampa presents daunting challenges. Installing the hardware alone -- fencing, lighting, surveillance systems and gates -- is expected to run an estimated $17-million, said George Williamson, director and chief executive officer for the Tampa Port Authority.
Hiring extra security patrols, including continuous patrols by three Hillsborough sheriff's deputies, is expected to cost another $5-million annually.
"I cannot overemphasize the need for outside funding," Williamson said. "We're using every penny we have."
Hillsborough County Commission Chairwoman Pat Frank presented the subcommittee a list of local needs, ranging from an improved radio system for emergency workers to riot shields, totaling $70.2-million.
She testified that the situation at the Port of Tampa was particularly alarming. She highlighted a 1995 study by the Local Emergency Planning Committee showing that 200,000 people live within a 10-mile vulnerability zone if C.F. Industries' anhydrous ammonia storage tank at Hooker Point explodes.
"We have a potentially very disastrous situation here," Frank said.
Industry representatives with interests at the port urged the congressmen not to adopt measures that would create redundant security checks or add significantly to the travel times of the hundreds of trucks that visit daily.
They praised port officials for being ahead of the curve in implementing changes that improved port security.
But Putnam and Shays expressed concern about what they perceived as a lack of coordination between the federal agencies active at the port, from U.S. Customs to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. They grilled representatives from several agencies about what they deemed poor coordination for such activities as tanker inspections.