A bipartisan effort to save the NRV port
The U.S Customs and Border Protection agency has decided not to maintain full-time staffing for the port of entry based at the New River Valley Airport in Dublin, an apparent cost-saving move that could impact economic development in the region.
Virginia’s U.S. senators and the congressmen who represent the Roanoke and New River valleys want an explanation for the decision and are making a bipartisan push to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of port director Michael Kirkpatrick.
In a letter to the CBP’s deputy director earlier this month, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Morgan Griffith said: “We are very concerned about the potential negative effect removing this position would have on economic opportunities in southwest Virginia.”
The New River Valley Airport facility became the nation’s 325th official “port of entry” when it began receiving federal funding in 2006. The port and a foreign trade zone were developed jointly to serve an area within a 90-mile radius of the airport, providing more international trade opportunities for the region and more convenience for companies and individuals that do business in other countries.
Foreign trade zone status allows for materials and goods to be shipped into the designated area without being subject to U.S. customs duties and tariffs. Since 2008, there has been $648.6 million in foreign direct investment in the port’s service area, with more than 3,800 jobs tied to that investment, according to the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance. That’s no small impact for a region trying to adapt its economy to the realities of globalization.
As Griffith, R-Salem, noted in a telephone interview, companies must be able to import parts and export products efficiently if the region is to expand its economy. Griffith said lawmakers have not been given a reason for CBP’s decision to leave the port director’s position vacant, and wondered if the agency simply was trying to save money through attrition. He hopes a bipartisan show of support for the Dublin port will persuade the agency to reconsider.
CBP is working on an interim process to mitigate impacts on trade within the port’s service area. But without a local customs officer to serve the region, there can be no direct foreign arrivals or departures of private aircraft at airports in Roanoke, Blacksburg or Dublin. That can put the region at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to recruiting international companies.
“From my perspective and an economic development perspective, it’s kind of a big deal,” said Aric Bopp, the executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance.
As members of the congressional delegation noted in their letter, there is no other customs presence within two hours of the Roanoke and New River valleys. Not having a full-time customs officer “would make it more difficult for this rural region to compete globally over the long term,” they warned.
The lawmakers have asked CBP to review all U.S. ports of entry to determine how the Dublin facility’s usage compares to others. The customs agency has eliminated a “PAIRED entry” program, which allowed for an import shipment to be counted at an inland port after clearing customs at a separate port of entry. The agency acknowledged in 2010 that the program’s elimination would affect entry counts at ports throughout the country.
But a CBP official advised Bopp in 2010 that the agency will consider “quantitative and qualitative factors” in measuring the port’s performance. Robert Gomez, the agency’s director of field operations, called the New River port “one of the best in the nation” in his email exchange with Bopp.
If that’s not enough to justify full-time staffing at the Dublin port, perhaps bipartisan teamwork by Warner, Kaine, Griffith and Goodlatte can get the job done.
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