The North Olympic Peninsula’s congressional delegation might have succeeded in stopping a $3 fee on international passenger ferries recently proposed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
According to Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, a fee exemption for international passenger ferries in the Pacific Northwest — including the MV Coho and Victoria Express between Port Angeles and Victoria — will be included in the 2003 federal budget.
“It’s good news but it’s not finalized yet,” Crider said Wednesday.
Several sections of the budget need to be finished before the entire document goes to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate for a vote, she said.