[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 20 (Monday, May 24, 1993)]
[Pages 905-907]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Permit Authorizing Canadian Interests To Construct a Replacement Railway 
Tunnel

 May 17, 1993

    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
laws of the United States of America, I hereby grant permission to 
Permittees, the Canadian National Railway Company, a Canadian 
Corporation with its principal offices in Montreal, Quebec, and its 
wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Corporation, a Delaware 
corporation with its principal offices in Detroit, Michigan, and any 
jointly owned subsidiaries, to

[[Page 906]]

construct, operate, and maintain an international railway tunnel across 
the international boundary between the United States and Canada, between 
Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, under the St. Clair 
River.
    I have reviewed the application of the Permittees and find that the 
issuance of a Permit would serve the national interest. The Department 
of State, Department of Defense, Department of Interior, Department of 
Justice, Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury, and 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency have raised no objection to 
issuance of the Permit. Pursuant to the Rivers and Harbors 
Appropriations Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 403, the Corps of Engineers 
has also determined that the issuance of a Permit is appropriate and 
consistent with the public interest.
    The term ``facilities'' as used in this permit means the rail tunnel 
and any land, structures, installations or equipment appurtenant 
thereto.
    The term ``United States facilities'' as used in this permit means 
that part of the facilities in the United States.
    As stated in Permittees' application of May 8, 1992, for a permit, 
including their accompanying submission of a feasibility study entitled 
``St. Clair, Initial Environmental Evaluation/Environmental Study 
Report,'' dated February 1992, and subsequent exchange of information, 
the United States facilities of the rail tunnel will consist of the 
following major components:
    --A new tunnel bored beneath the St. Clair River, and deepening the 
      existing open cuts on the Port Huron, Michigan, approach to 
      develop portals for construction of the tunnel.
    --The summit-to-international boundary length of the project within 
      the United States is 5,853 feet (of a total summit-summit length 
      of 12,726 feet). The length of the new tunnel, U.S. portal to 
      international boundary, is approximately 2,749 feet (of a total 
      portal-portal length of 6,136 feet).
    --The new tunnel is located approximately on a tangent with an 89 
      foot offset north of the existing tunnel. A horizontal curve in 
      the Sarnia, Ontario, portal narrows the difference in tunnel 
      centerlines to 55 feet at the exit of the Sarnia, Ontario, portal. 
      The vertical alignment is based on a maximum grade of 2.1 percent. 
      The tunnel will have a downgrade of 1.8 percent from the Sarnia 
      portal and 2.1 percent from the Port Huron portal with 0.35 
      percent grade under the river. The tunnel will have a minimum of 
      15 feet of cover over the crown under the river portion of the 
      project. The interior diameter of the finished tunnel will be 
      approximately 27 feet, 6 inches.
    --The tunnel will be used for rail transport of freight and 
      passengers.
    This permit is subject to the following conditions:
    Article 1. The United States facilities and operations herein 
described shall be subject to all the conditions, provisions, and 
requirements of this permit or any amendment thereof. This permit may be 
terminated at the will of the President of the United States of America, 
the Secretary of State of the United States of America or the 
Secretary's delegate or may be amended by the President, the Secretary 
of State or the Secretary's delegate at will or upon proper application 
therefor. Permittees shall make no substantial change in the location of 
the United States facilities or in the operation authorized by this 
permit until such changes shall have been approved by the President of 
the United States of America, or the Secretary of State of the United 
States of America or the Secretary's delegate.
    Article 2. The construction, operation, and maintenance of the 
facilities shall be in all material respects as described in Permittees' 
application of May 8, 1992, and documentation submitted in support 
thereof.
    Article 3. The construction, operation, and maintenance of the 
United States facilities shall be subject to inspection and approval by 
the representatives of any Federal or State agency concerned. The 
Permittees shall allow duly authorized officers and employees of such 
agencies free and unrestricted access to said facilities as is necessary 
for the performance of their official duties.
    Article 4. Permittees shall comply with all applicable Federal and 
State laws and regulations regarding the construction, operation,

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and maintenance of the United States facilities.
    Article 5. Upon termination, revocation, or surrender of this 
permit, and unless otherwise agreed by the President of the United 
States of America or the Secretary of State of the United States of 
America or the Secretary's delegate, the United States facilities in the 
immediate vicinity of the international boundary line shall be filled in 
by and at the expense of the Permittees within such time as the 
President or the Secretary of State or the Secretary's delegate may 
specify, and upon failure of the Permittees to remove this portion of 
the United States facilities as ordered, the President or Secretary of 
State or the Secretary's delegate may direct that possession of such 
facilities be taken and that they be removed at the expense of the 
Permittees; and the Permittees shall have no claim for damages by reason 
of such possession or removal.
    Article 6. This permit is subject to the limitations, terms, and 
conditions contained in any order issued by any competent agency of the 
United States Government or of the State of Michigan with respect to the 
United States facilities. This permit shall continue in force and effect 
so long as the Permittees shall continue the operations hereby 
authorized in accordance with such limitations, terms, and conditions.
    Article 7. When, in the opinion of the President of the United 
States of America, the national security of the United States demands 
it, due notice being given by the Secretary of State of the United 
States of America or the Secretary's delegate, the United States shall 
have the right to enter upon and take possession of any of the United 
States facilities or parts thereof; to retain possession, management, 
and control thereof for such length of time as may appear to the 
President to be necessary to accomplish said purposes; and thereafter to 
restore possession and control to the Permittees. In the event that the 
United States shall exercise such right, it shall pay to the Permittees 
just and fair compensation for the use of such United States facilities 
upon the basis of reasonable profit in normal conditions as existed at 
the time of entering and taking over the same, less the reasonable value 
of any improvements that may have been made by the United States.
    Article 8. Any transfer of ownership or control of the United States 
facilities or any part thereof shall be immediately notified to the 
Department of State in writing. This permit shall remain in force, 
subject to all the conditions, provisions, and requirements of this 
permit or any amendments thereof.
    Article 9. (1) The Permittees shall maintain the United States 
facilities and every part thereof in a condition of good repair for 
their safe operations.
    (2) The Permittees shall save harmless the United States from any 
claimed or adjudged liability arising out of the construction, 
operation, or maintenance of the facilities.
    Article 10. The Permittees shall acquire such right-of-way grants, 
easements, permits and other authorizations as may become necessary and 
appropriate.
    Article 11. The Permittees shall file with the appropriate agencies 
of the United States Government such statements or reports under oath 
with respect to the United States facilities, and/or Permittees' 
activities and operations in connection therewith, as are now, or as may 
hereafter be required under any laws or regulations of the Government of 
the United States or its agencies.
    In Witness Whereof, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of 
May, 1993 in the City of Washington, District of Columbia.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:02 p.m., May 19, 
1993]

Note: This permit was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
May 19, and it was published in the Federal Register on May 20.