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November 1, 2008

Border Patrol to expand in New York and Vermont

By WILSON RING

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- The U.S. Border Patrol is replacing or renovating eight local stations in part of New York and Vermont as part of a national plan to build 76 new facilities across the U.S.-Canadian border.

The new stations will all be about 25,000 square feet and be based on one of three basic designs. The buildings will have enough office space for 50 agents, detention facilities, garages and helicopter pads, said Blaine Davis, a Border Patrol operations officer in Newport.

It's part of a national plan to increase the size of the Border Patrol to control who — and what — enters the United States.

"Any increases have a pretty big impact on our current infrastructure and facilities up here," Davis said.

Construction is set to begin this fall on the first Vermont facility in Richford, off Route 105 just south of the downtown. It and the Newport office, just off Interstate 91, are due to be completed by December 2009.

Renovations are complete on the Border Patrol station in Ogdensburg, N.Y. The building dates to about 1810 and is the oldest continually operated customs house in the country. Construction is almost complete on a new station in Massena, N.Y., Davis said.

New stations are also due to be built in the New York towns of Burke and Champlain as well as Swanton and Beecher Falls.

"We need the new facilities primarily to accommodate increased staffing, ensure a safe and healthful work environment for our employees and increase security in our detention (and) processing areas," Davis said Friday.

The Border Patrol region that covers Vermont runs from Ogdensburg, N.Y., 295 miles east to the Maine-New Hampshire line.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States the Border Patrol set out to expand the number of agents on the U.S. Canadian border from 300 to about 1,000. Many of those agents have arrived and the facilities are needed to support them.

At its most basic, that expansion means that local offices that once accommodated a handful of agents are now overflowing.

Davis said the Richford station would use the latest in green technology, including ground source heat pumps for heating and air condition, they will be solar panels and high tech insulation.

"It should be a very efficient building," Davis said.

While the stations will be capable of holding 50 agents, it doesn't mean that many will be assigned to each, said Mark Henry, a spokesman for the Swanton sector.

"What we're looking for is minimum 50-person facility to allow for expansion in the future," Henry said. "You have three shifts so you don't need 50 desks."

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