Moroun tries to sink rival bridge -- with help from Detroitcongresswoman
By TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • April 6, 2009
WASHINGTON — Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun wants toforbid federal spending on a rival Detroit River bridge project, andasked U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick to write the ban into nextyear’s federal budget.Advertisement
The Detroit International Bridge Co. he controls asked U.S. Rep. CarolynCheeks Kilpatrick, a Detroit Democrat who is the state’s sole member onthe budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, to block funding fora proposed bridge near Zug Island that federal transportation officials,the state of Michigan and supporters in Canada are backing.
Moroun hopes to build a replacement span next to the 80-year-oldAmbassador Bridge, the busiest trade crossing in North America, but isrunning into stiff opposition on the Canadian side of the border.
Kilpatrick posted the request on her Web site on Monday, one of dozensof requests for earmarks — items that go into the federal budget whichare introduced by individual members of Congress and typically call forspending on projects, not prohibiting it. What was unclear was whethershe had forwarded it onto the Appropriations Committee for inclusion innext year’s budget.
Since 1998, Kilpatrick has received more than $64,000 from Moroun andhis allies and she has called into question the need for the othercrossing in the past. Both the Ambassador Bridge and the proposed newspan about 1½ miles downriver are in her district.
State officials expected about $8 million in federal funds for theproject next year.