Tester, Walsh seek extended Wild Horse hours

Montana’s U.S. senators are weighing in on an effort to increase international trade in north-central Montana.

Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and John Walsh this week sent a letter to the head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection requesting a three-year program extending hours at the Port of Wild Horse, north of Havre on the Canadian border, year-round.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon, who co-chairs the Wild Horse Border Committee working to get for an upgrade of the port, said the committee has been pushing for that three-year pilot for several years.

“I think it will give us a true picture of what traffic goes across that border,” Solomon said this morning, adding that the lack of coordination and consistency on both sides of the border has caused problems collecting accurate data.

The effort started early last decade to upgrade the port to a 24-hour commercial port, to replace the current hours — open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the winter and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the summer — and a requirement that commercial drivers have a permit to transport freight across the border.

For several years, the committee has pushed to take baby steps, asking that the summer hours, normally running from May 15 through the end of September, be extended to include more months.

While that has happened, it has been inconsistent, with both sides rarely starting or ending the extended hours on the same date.

A study conducted by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at University of Montana and a recent survey of Havre businesses indicate extended hours would significantly increase the economic impact. And committee members say having a set time over a longer period would generate better data to support — or disprove — their idea that expanded hours would be beneficial.

The senators, who cite the recent survey, agree with that argument in their letter.

“We believe that a three-year pilot at Wild Horse is the best method to determine the true economic impact of extended hours on local businesses along both sides of the border, as well as on the State of Montana,” Tester and Walsh wrote to Thomas S. Winkowski, acting commissioner of CBP.

They also note that reports show traffic has increased through the port and the flow of traffic from Alberta to Montana increased by 12 percent from 2010 to 2013.

“Through a three-year pilot program of year-round extended hours, these figures would undoubtedly rise,” Tester and Walsh say in the letter.

Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Debbie Vandeberg said the Chamber and Bear Paw Development Corp. conducted the survey after CBP officials last November requested information on the amount of Canadian trade in Havre.

“The statistics from the survey show the powerful economic impact Canadian trade plays in our day-to-day main-street business in Havre,” she said.

She said 48 businesses responded to the survey, with 83 percent saying Canadian trade was important or very important to their business, 64 percent saying up to 25 percent of their business comes from Canadian customers, 18 percent saying 25 percent to 50 percent of their business is Canadian and 12 percent saying 50 percent to 75 percent of their business is from Canadian customers.

“I think that’s a jaw-dropping number,” Bear Paw Development Executive Director Paul Tuss said this morning, noting that 43 percent of the respondents also said their Canadian business had increased in the previous six months.

“We’re seeing the trends go in the right direction,” he said. “I just think we need this little push to see what we expect is a significant increase.”