PrairiePundit

 Washington Examiner: A measure included in the $858 billion annual defense spending bill cleared by the Senate on Thursday night could make it harder to ship fuel during national emergencies due to changes made to a century-old law known as the Jones Act. The Jones Act is a 1920s-era law requiring that any cargo shipped between domestic ports be transported on a U.S.-built, U.S.-registered ship flying the U.S. flag and manned by a majority-U.S. crew. The proposed changes prohibit any vessel already on the water from obtaining waivers from the Jones Act. They also establish a 48-hour waiting period for ships to receive waivers and require them to get a determination that the waiver is needed for purposes of national security from federal agencies and the president. If approved by the House, the changes could add up to a month for oil and liquefied natural gas to be shipped to the United States, even in the case of a national emergency, said Sean Cota, the president and CEO of t...

 Washington Examiner: A   fuel supply crisis  in New England has sent consumer utility bills soaring and threatens  blackouts  this winter — even as the United States  exports  record volumes of fuel to customers overseas. New England’s woes are attributable to two factors: its lack of  pipeline infrastructure , which prevents it from receiving supplies from other parts of the U.S., and a century-old law known as the Jones Act that limits the delivery of fuel from the rest of the country by ship. As a result, U.S. fuel continues to be exported at record volumes to the European Union — where gas storage facilities are full and oil is, for now, oversupplied — even as its  own residents are starved  of that same supply. The Jones Act has come under heavy criticism in recent months, both from utility company directors and state leaders. Otherwise known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act requires that any cargo shipped between ...

 Washington Examiner: L ast week,  Puerto Rico  was devastated by  Hurricane Fiona . The entire island was left without power. Unfortunately, its residents continue to suffer a week later, and this time,  nature  alone cannot be blamed, as an archaic federal law called the Jones Act is preventing needed supplies from reaching the island territory as quickly as they could otherwise. "There is a ship with 300,000 barrels of diesel off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, that is prepared to deliver the diesel at a time when the island needs all the diesel it can get," CBS News correspondent David Begnaud confirmed Monday morning on social media. The problem is that this ship is foreign-flagged and its cargo comes from Texas. Therefore, the Jones Act prohibits its delivery. "Diesel helps gas stations, hospitals, the government of Puerto Rico," Begnaud explained. "Because of the Jones Act, I am told that the foreign-flagged ship cannot move into Puerto Rico to de...

  Washington Examiner: ... “The administration has to look like they're doing something so no one gets on the narrative that they abandoned a company and a pipeline to pirates,” a former senior Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner. It would be several days before the Biden administration moved to lift a controversial shipping rule used to alleviate fuel shortages in the past, allowing non-U.S. flagged ships to transport fuel between American ports by way of a “temporary and targeted” Jones Act waiver. Past administrations have lifted the rule during natural disasters, using it to supply fuel to Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria or to the Atlantic coast as Hurricane Sandy battered the Northeast. BIDEN: FBI ATTRIBUTED PIPELINE ATTACK TO RUSSIA-BASED HACKERS BUT NOT PUTIN Biden delivered remarks on the issue Thursday, seven days into a crisis that has seen gas prices spike to a seven-year high and fuel shortages across the East Coast. He warned that people would no...

Washington Examiner: The Jones Act, a century-old maritime law, proves tough to sink BEcause the Jones Act requires that interstate shipping is done on American owned and crewed ships it is cheaper for New England to import oil and gas from foreign companies than from US producers.  It thereby increases US reliance on foreign energy sources at a time of energy abundance in the US.  Waivers are also required when aid is needed to respond to hurricane damage in coastal states or Puerto Rico. 

Washington Examiner: The recent hurricanes affecting coastal states have renewed calls to reform or repeal the Jones Act, an obscure, century-old shipping law designed to protect American maritime interests and shipbuilders. Enacted in 1920, the federal law prohibits tankers from hauling oil between U.S. ports unless those vessels are American-made, flagged and manned by a crew that is 75 percent U.S. citizens. The Trump administration this month extended a temporary waiver to the Jones Act in response to fuel shortages caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, to allow foreign-flagged vessels to meet demand. But some lawmakers and experts say the waivers prompted by the hurricanes showcase the need to repeal a law they view as protectionist and anti-competitive, making it harder to move goods to market, and raising prices for consumers. Because of the high cost of using vessels that qualify under the Jones Act, critics say coastal shipping has declined, even though infrastructur...

Fuel Fix: The Department of Homeland Security has waived federal restriction on the use of foreign-owned ships in a move to address fuel shortages caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Under the Jones Act, foreign-owned ships are prohibited from delivering good between U.S. ports. But for the next seven days, DHS said, a waiver will be in effect "specifically tailored to transportation of refined products in hurricane-affected areas." "This is a precautionary measure to ensure we have enough fuel to support lifesaving efforts, respond to the storm, and restore critical services and critical infrastructure operations in the wake of this potentially devastating storm," said Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke. Many refineries were forced to shut down as Harvey approached the Texas Gulf Coast last month, cutting off close to a quarter of the nation's refining capacity as floodwaters ravaged the region. Many of those facilities have come back online, but as of Thursd...

Fuel Fix: The Trump administration has withdrawn a controversial proposal that would have forced offshore oil and gas companies to give more work to American ships and crews when drilling in U.S. waters. Announced in the final days of the Obama administration, the proposal would have done away with decades of exemptions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that allowed international maritime crews to perform works historically reserved for Americans under a U.S. law titled the Jones Act. But offshore oil and gas industry had warned that such a move would lead many companies to pull back from the Gulf of Mexico in favor of a offshore fields abroad. “By rescinding the proposal, CBP has decided not to impose potentially serious limitations to the industry’s ability to safely, effectively, and economically operate,” Erik Milito, a director at the American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday. The announcement by U.S. Customs dealt a blow to efforts by the U.S. maritime industry, which ha...

Fuel Fix: Midstream giant Kinder Morgan said Monday it will add four new tankers to its Jones Act-eligible fleet in a $568 million deal with Philly Tankers LLC. The ships are slated to be delivered between late 2016 and 2017. The first two tankers scheduled for delivery are already under long-term contract with an unnamed oil company, and Kinder Morgan said it expects to have contracts for the second two ships inked by early 2016. The Jones Act requires waterborne cargo shipped between domestic ports to be delivered on ships built in the U.S., owned by U.S. citizens and crewed by U.S. citizens. The limitations have helped to support an industry of maritime shippers dedicated to moving goods along U.S. coasts. Kinder Morgan entered the Jones Act shipping business with a $960 million deal for five ships in January 2014. The company mostly ships petroleum products, and operates its ships by contracting them out to other companies in long-term deals. ... At a time when tankers can be bo...

Daily Signal: With the onset of another snowstorm hitting the Northeast, New Jerseyans are shaking their snow shovels at a federal law that causes them almost yearly fits . In 2014, New Jersey municipalities, in desperate need of salt to keep roads safe, wanted to buy the salt from willing suppliers in Maine. But thanks to a hundred-year old law, they could not find someone to legally ship the life-saving salt. The “Merchant Marine Act of 1920,” better known as the “Jones Act,” effectively bans shipping between U.S. ports, unless the ship transporting goods is U.S. built, U.S. flagged and staffed by at least 75 percent U.S. crewmen. Irish, Canadians or Panamanians need not apply. As the U.S. merchant marine became concentrated into a handful of companies, the remaining shippers used their government-granted monopoly to drive up profits at the expense of other Americans . Though foreign companies already carry 80 percent of America’s international commerce shipping, at lower costs...