by Stephen Singer, Associated Press
GROTON, Conn. (AP) - Immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Dottie Streeter could see signs of a security clampdown everywhere in southeast Connecticut.
Owner for the last 30 years of Ken’s Tackle Shop along the Thames River, Streeter is aware of even the slightest changes in Groton’s maritime life.
“After 9-11, it was super-tight,” Streeter said. “You couldn’t fish on the river before sunup or after sundown. All the boating traffic was stopped by local police, the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), the Coast Guard.”
At the U.S. Navy’s submarine base, the change was stark.
“All of a sudden you realize what’s going on,” Streeter said. “They had guards out there with guns hanging on their belts.”
Improving security became a top priority nationwide after the attacks, but in Groton - home to the Electric Boat shipyard and the sub base - national security is also local security.
The region also is home to the Millstone Power Station in Waterford and drug maker Pfizer Corp. in Groton.
“The southeast is very rich in targets,” said Vincent DeRosa, deputy commissioner of public safety and the state’s top anti-terrorism official.
Connecticut’s shoreline towns and cities, stretching 250 miles westward across Long Island Sound, are home to more than 1 million residents, about 30 percent of the state’s population.
In addition, nearly 12 million tons of goods ranging from bananas to zinc entered the United States in Connecticut’s three major ports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London in 2000, the most recent year for which data are available.
Long Island Sound also is a vast playground dotted with marinas, boat launches and beaches.
To protect the nation’s 95,000 miles of coastline, the U.S. Coast Guard says it launched the largest security operation since the end of World War II.
“Port security has always been a mission of the Coast Guard,” said Pamela Garcia, a spokeswoman in New Haven. “After 9-11 it became the No. 1 priority.”
The Coast Guard increased from 24 hours to 96 hours the notice commercial shippers must give before entering a Connecticut port. Shippers also must provide information on their previous port of call, the crew and cargo.
To enforce the shipping requirement, the Coast Guard installed radar at an undisclosed site on New York’s Fishers Island.
And a Naval Vessel Protection Zone was established, forbidding boaters to approach within 100 yards and maintaining a minimum speed possible to keep course within 500 yards, Garcia said.
“It’s a big deal in the Thames River,” she said. “When a submarine is in the river, it pretty much shuts down the river.”
At the Milford nuclear plant, owned by Dominion Inc. of Richmond, Va., officials increased the firepower of its security staff.
“We used to have shotguns available,” spokesman Peter Hyde said. “Now (the guards) carry them.”
In addition, the plant erected concrete barriers to bar access and ended public tours and fishing. Buoys have been placed in an arc 350 yards from the plant to keep boaters from coming too close.
Joe Savino, harbor master at Bridgeport, said four patrol boats watch “the comings and goings,” paying particular attention to the harbor’s three oil terminals that supply fuel and gasoline between Norwalk and New Haven and north to Newtown.
During periods of high alert, harbor officials search all vehicles boarding the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson, N.Y., ferry, he said.
Businesses in the area, from pizza parlors to used car dealers, have also been asked to stay alert. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service also asked car dealers to scrape off any old Navy base access stickers from used cars before they go on the lot.
Coast Guard officials asked the owner of Mystic River Marina to report “anything out of the ordinary,” said marina President Robert Garbarino.
“It’s pretty vague,” he said. “I don’t know what it would be.”
In Groton, some of the rules have been relaxed a bit, Streeter said. But for the lifelong resident of Groton, some things have changed forever.
“Everyone has security zones that are fully enforced,” she said.