ShareThisAs a self-proclaimed "citizen of the world," President Obama should have welcomed rather than spurned international assistance to prevent BP's underwater oil geyser from wrecking the Gulf Coast. But spurn, he did. Obama's failure to waive the Jones Act still maintains a sea wall that blocks potentially helpful foreign ships from this tear-inducing mess.
The 1920 Jones Act requires that vessels operating in American waters be built, owned, and manned by Americans. Some U.S. ship owners love this protectionist measure. So do maritime labor unions. When it comes to confronting unions, Obama rarely crosses that line.
On April 20, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded killing 11 workers, and began gushing perhaps 60,000 barrels of petroleum daily. Three days later, the Dutch offered to sail to the rescue on ships bedecked with oil-skimming booms. They also had a plan for erecting protective sand barricades.
"The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" Dutch consul general Geert Visser told the Houston Chronicle's Loren Steffy. Had those Dutch ships departed nearly two months ago, who knows how much oil they already would have absorbed and how many pelicans now would soar rather than soak in soapy water while wildlife experts clean their wings.
After initially refusing to name them, the State Department on May 5 declared that 11 other countries and the UN also had offered skimmer boats and other assets and experts to prevent the oil from destroying dolphins, crabs, oysters, and this disaster's other defenseless victims.
Alas, they were turned away in a State Department statement.
"While there is no need right now that the U.S. cannot meet, the U.S. Coast Guard is assessing these offers of assistance to see if there will be something which we will need in the near future." Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin translated this into plain English: "The current message to foreign governments is: "Thanks but no thanks, we've got it covered.'"
Had Obama instead waived the Jones Act via executive order -- as did President Bush three days after Hurricane Katrina -- that S.O.S. would have summoned a global armada of mercy. Who knows how many fishing, shrimping, and seafood-processing jobs this would have saved? Instead, thousands of Gulf Coast workers will endure a long march from dormant docks to bustling unemployment lines.
Even now, Obama could invite the world to send boats to clean the waters off Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and (potentially) the Carolinas and points north, if this mass of oil (so far, roughly equal to 13 Exxon Valdez oil spills) enters the Loop Current, swerves around Key West, slips into the Gulf Stream, and slides up the Eastern Seaboard.
"If there is the need for any type of waiver, that would obviously be granted," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs promised on June 10. "But, we've not had that problem thus far in the Gulf."
Problem? What problem?
The Jones Act sometimes gets waived. As Fox News Channel's Brian Wilson reported on June 11: "A US Customs official ruled recently that the Jones Act does not apply to foreign owned vessels installing wind turbines off the coast of Delaware."
Watching Obama's Tuesday night Oval Office address, BP's brass must have been startled to hear the president say: "I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness."
Should BP pay, and pay big? Yes.
Reckless? BP sure seems so.
But since when does the American president "inform" executives that they must devote billions to any cause, no matter how worthy? Isn't this why Congress passes legislation and courts administer justice?
So, while a pro-labor trade barrier traps potentially helpful boats in overseas ports, due process withers under presidential diktat.
And the crude oil keeps on flowing.
(Deroy Murdock is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. E-mail him at deroy.Murdock(at)gmail.com)
COLUMN
Gulf oil crisis
I thought there were microbes that have been genetically engineered for the purpose of eating the oil. The engineered microbes are natural to the environment; are voracious in appetite for oil; are sterile and cannot adversely affect the environment. As the microbes complete their life cycle they decay or are eaten by higher life forms as nature intended. Should they not have been used in lieu of the carcinogenic dispersant s used presently?
Jones Act Confusion
This article is really wrong. Yesterday, the Government said that there has only been one Jones Act waiver request and they were able to process it in 24 hours and find American vessels and American workers to do the job. Are you really saying we should wait 3-4 weeks to transport some foreign boat over here when we need to have cleanup crews working now?
If you want to find out the facts, watch the hearing in the House Coast Guard Subcommittee: http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx?newsid=1244
Jones Act Confusion Response
You are uninformed. Research before you spout comments about subjects you know nothing. Otherwise your comments are a fools errand and a waste of air. Assistance from the hundreds of oil skimmers from around the world is needed and has been since day one. The U.S. Government, Coast Guard and the regional market do not nor have they ever had a flotilla of skimmer ships waiting in the ports for an event such as this. Your arrogance in thinking the oil leak in the Gulf, is no big deal is a product of your ignorance.
Murdock: Jones Act another problem in fixing Gulf spill
Read the Jones Act! Turn off Fox News!
There is an exemption built into the law. Do some research. Here it is..
"§ 55113. Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an oil spill response vessel documented under the laws of a foreign country may operate in waters of the United States on an emergency and temporary basis, for the purpose of recovering, transporting,
and unloading in a United States port oil discharged as a result of an oil spill in or near those waters, if--
"(1) an adequate number and type of oil spill response vessels documented under the laws of the United States cannot be engaged to recover oil from an oil spill in or near those waters in a timely manner, as determined by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for a discharge or threat of a discharge of oil; and
"(2) the foreign country has by its laws accorded to vessels of the United States the same privileges accorded to vessels of the foreign country under this section.
Jones Act
OK I read what you wrote on the Jones act. The question still remains... Why didn't we let the Dutch vessels assist in cleaning up the spill and why haven't we allowed the other 11 nations (that volunteered) to help. I think the point of the article written by Murdock is that we have been offered help and we're refusing it. Regardless of whether someone listens "to FOX News" we can conclude (and history will show) that the current adminisrtation has screwed the pooch on this.
Jones Act waiver
Ralph is partially correct. The Jones Act was re-codified in 2006 and signed by Bush. The oil spill section is in the present law. However, in 55113-1 the Federal On-Scene Coordinator Rear Admiral James Watson has not officially yet determined our own fleet is inadequate and so foreign ships may not work in US federal or state waters. Regarding 55113-2, some of the 25 countries (I count 25 as of 06/29/10, about 8 with ships) that have made offers of assistance do not meet the reciprocal requirements required in 55113-2. So for both part 1 and possibly 2 the Gulf states are asking for a waiver.
Jones Act Doesn't Even Apply Here
The oil spill response exception to the Jones act is inapplicable in this case. This entire ruckus about the Jones Act is just a political diversion and the people who continue to spout off about it should be ashamed of themselves. The Jones Act requires US flagged / US constructed vessels to be used for US coastwise trade, which basically means the transportation of passengers or cargo between US ports. An oil skimmer operating 50 miles offshore at the Deepwater Horizon rig is not operating in US coastwise trade. You might as well complain that Obama is hindering the cleanup because he has not considered raising the speed limit on Interstate 10.
BP is such a joke… they
BP is such a joke… they should all be arrested along with the US govt. How long ago did they cap the leak? And how many legitimate claims are still “pending” from damages they suffered back in the beginning of the summer? I happen to know three people that were affected directly by BP’s shady PR tactics and manipulation of our laws, one of whom was a journalist who was almost arrested and charged with felonies for taking pictures of oil covered animals near the coast. Not only is it bad enough that thousands of fishers’ lively hoods are ruined for god knows how many years to come, they were paid a pathetic amount of money to clean up BP’s own mess. To add even more insult to injury, BP used Corexit 9527, which contains mainly 2-butoxyethanol, which is very toxic. You wouldn’t have to be a scientist to know that, since in the first week of using it over 70 fisherman ended up at the hospital. Of course if you even inquired about this, I’m sure the govt (which is pretty much owned by oil companies) would deal with you quite quickly, let alone taking pictures of it in an attempt to run a story on it. If you didn’t know already, the govt is doing what they do best… crapping on the 1st amendment: naturalnews.com/029130_Gulf_of_Mexico_censorship.html. My friend who almost got arrested on felony charges simply went out on a boat into about 30 feet of water and used a water proof cam to photograph one of the many oil plumes forming at the bottom of the surface (which BP vehemently denies). Now here comes the hilarious part. He switched the film in his camera with a blank one in the event they were stopped by police, which they were as soon as they got back to shore. They let him go but still took his name down, and what do you know... later that night, 2 guys wearing black hoodies attempted to break into his house. He caught pics of them on his home security system (he saved the pics… adt wireless camera break in photos). Hmm, I wonder who paid these guys to break in and what they were after? Definitely not BP or our govt, that’s for sure!