It has been 59 days since an explosion destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. President Obama still refuses to waive the Jones Act. Foreign ships have been and continue to be available to assist, but President Obama has declined their offers and won’t permit their ships to help. Protecting union jobs is apparently much more important than dealing with the eco-catastrophe.
What is the Jones Act?
The Jones Act (aka the Merchant Marine Act of 1920) forbids foreign vessels from operating in US territorial waters. The provisions of the Jones Act may be waived by the Secretary of Homeland Security on her own initiative, at the request of the Secretary of Defense, or by direction of the President.
President Bush did it on Day Three after Hurricane Katrina in September of 2005. And again, less than a month later after the landfall of Hurricane Rita. See here for a recap by Keith Hennesy, the Bush Administration official who coordinated the Jones Act waivers in 2005.
Day 59. Still no waiver from President Obama.
Redhatrob, there are currently foreign ships in the Gulf handling the spill. The Jones Act only applies to ships traveling coastwise between 2 US ports. A Jones Act waiver is not necessary for ships such as skimmers that are helping the clean-up. Bush’s waiver of the Jones Act in response to the hurricanes did nothing to help get more foreign vessels in US waters, as it was not waived for long enough to have any effect. If there is a situation right now where there are foreign vessels that would be helpful, Customs and Border Protection can issue waivers. This has nothing to do with union protection.
Of course White House and Union special interest rhetoric claim waiving the Jones Act won’t help. Then why not waive it and let the country see with their own eyes whether it not it makes a difference? It would certainly appear that skimmers moving across ports (i.e. between 2 US ports) would be extremely useful.
Yes there are current foreign ships helping out in the Gulf, because they don’t need White House permission to operate in Internatioonal waters, however, within our coastline they most definitely need the Jones Act waived.
Bottom line, as long as the White House stonewalls the world, we’ll just have to take their word for it, and of course we know they’ll be completely forthright and hones.