Do you want to know why President Obama refuses to suspend the Jones Act in order to allow foreign ships to help clean the oil out of the Gulf of Mexico and protect the shores of the Gulf states? He doesn’t want to offend the unions, that’s why.
The Wall Street Journal: The Belgian dredging group DEME says it has offered the U.S. specialized vessels and technology that can help clean up the spill in three to four months compared to the estimated nine months that the U.S. will need. There are only a handful of these vessels in the world, and most of them belong to Dutch and Belgian companies. So why aren’t we calling on them?
Blame it on the protectionist Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also called the Jones Act, that requires ships working in U.S. waters to be built, operated and owned by Americans. Building specialized clean-up vessels in the U.S. is too expensive because of high union labor costs, and unions don’t want ships built with foreign labor to be used in U.S. waters. To circumvent the Jones Act, clean-up crews have had to outfit American ships with skimming technology airlifted from the Netherlands. This has resulted in serious delays and greater harm to the Gulf.
George W. Bush suspended the Jones Act after Hurricane Katrina, so it’s not like it would be unprecedented. This is worse, Hurricane Katrina ended. The oil gush is ongoing.
Are there any lawyers out there who can tell us if the states can sue the federal government and force them to suspend the Jones Act? The actions of the Obama administration just keep making matters worse. The moratorium on drilling is a moratorium on jobs for thousands of workers. The failure to get help cleaning up the oil is destroying the fishing industry. It’s total insanity!
