The century-old Jones Act requires that ships carrying goods between USA ports be built in the USA and crewed by American workers.
(Bloomberg) The Biden administration is open to waiving domestic shipping restrictions to allow foreign tankers to transport fuel to areas with shortages due to the Colonial Pipeline Co. outage, the White House said Wednesday.
The century-old Jones Act requires that ships carrying goods between U.S. ports be built in the U.S. and crewed by American workers. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the government would consider waiver requests, but stopped short of saying the administration would grant them.
US considering foreign tankers to move domestic fuel supplies
Jones Act waiver process underway to assess availability of US ships for pipeline replacement cargos Jones Act waiver would allow foreign tankers into US markets. (Photo: Shutterstock/Vallehr)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is assessing whether American tankers can meet emergency fuel demands caused by the Colonial Pipeline shutdown or if foreign ships will be needed to help fill the gap.
“The Biden-Harris administration is continually assessing the impact of the ongoing Colonial Pipeline incident on fuel supplies for the East Coast and is monitoring reported shortages in parts of the Southeast,” DOT stated Tuesday. “This ongoing effort includes evaluating resources the federal government can mobilize to mitigate potential impacts.”
The Biden Administration today announced the approval for the construction and operation of Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm.
The announcement was made jointly by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who were joined by labor union leaders.
The 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind energy project will be located approximately 12 nautical miles offshore Martha’s Vineyard and 12 nautical miles offshore Nantucket in the northern portion of Vineyard Wind’s lease area. The project is anticipated to create 3,600 jobs and provide enough power for 400,000 homes and businesses.
“A clean energy future is within our grasp in the United States. The approval of this project is an important step toward advancing the Administration’s goals to create good-paying union jobs while combatting climate change and powering our nation,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Today is one of many actions we are determined t
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Update: Wednesday, May 12: The White House has chimed in saying the Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for issuing Jones Act waivers, is ready to review waiver requests from companies that can show there is insufficient capacity within the Jones Act fleet.
“DOT’s Maritime Administration concluded their assessment of what assets are available in the Jones Act fleet to carry petroleum products within the Gulf, and from the Gulf up the Eastern Seaboard. The Department of Homeland Security stands ready to review any temporary Jones Act waiver requests from companies that demonstrate there is not sufficient capacity on Jones Act-qualified vessels to carry fuel to the affected region,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.