The Port Angeles Business Association is sending a letter opposing the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service’s proposed $3 border crossing fee for commercial ship and ferry passengers, such as those traveling from Victoria to Port Angeles.
“This (fee) will have an effect on the community,” Association president Jack Glaubert said at the group’s Tuesday meeting.
Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce board members will discuss the fee at their meeting Friday noon in the downstairs meeting room at Olympic Memorial Hospital.
INS has not indicated when it would start collecting the fee, but it is taking public comment through May 24.
Ferry operators and members of Washington’s congressional delegation say the proposal is ill-timed considering the region’s struggling post-Sept. 11 economy.