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Escambia Wants Foreign Help Skimming Oil
June 19, 2010
Escambia County has joined the list of entities asking President Barack Obama to waive the Jones Act — a 90-year old law that was intended to shelter America’s maritime interests from foreign competition.
In essence, the Jones Act — known officially as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 — states that cargo transported by water between U.S. Ports be transported on U.S. built, crewed and flagged ships.
That, critics say, is hampering the Gulf oil spill recovery by keeping vessels flagged in other counties from helping with the cleanup.
The Escambia County Commission has approved a resolution asking Obama to waive the act, allowing ships such as skimmers offered by the Netherlands.
U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, has called for Congress to repeal the act.
“This horrific disaster should provide many lessons for the Administration and Congress, including a reminder that the Jones Act should be repealed. Within a week of the explosion, 13 countries, including several European nations, offered assistance from vessels and crews with experience in removing oil spill debris,” McCain said within a week of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. “The Administration may grant a waiver to any vessel, just as the previous Administration did during Hurricane Katrina, so the international community could assist in recovery efforts, but has not done so.”
Two boats back up stern to stern allowing an oil skimmer to offload bags of oiled boom collected by the ship in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Caleb Critchfield for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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7 Responses to “Escambia Wants Foreign Help Skimming Oil”
O.K. This began as a PR release from an investment banker, Allegiance Capital.
Allegiance Capital Calls Upon Gulf State Leaders in Oil Skimmer Controversy
DALLAS, June 18 /PRNewswire/ — Fred McCallister, an investment banker with Allegiance Capital Corporation, sent information to Gulf State Governors and Senators today proposing the use of European-based oil skimming and boom deploying ships.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100216/DA55565LOGO)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100216/DA55565LOGO)
“Based on the daily statements in the press from government leaders at both the federal and state level – and our own common sense – we believe these vessels are urgently needed,” said McCallister. “We want those leaders responsible for protecting U.S. waters and coastlines to know about equipment that is available.”
The proposal includes opportunities for 1,200 workers, the vast majority of whom can come from the state utilizing the equipment. The available equipment is Coast Guard compliant and is purpose-built to do the following:
1. Install and maintain booms for trapping oil
2. Skim oil off the surface of the water before it reaches the beaches or marshes
3. House and support conservation volunteers in the rescue, cleaning and housing of animals.
“Allegiance Capital has offered these vessels to BP and several of its major contractors involved in the cleanup. We submitted a formal proposal 14 days ago and have made multiple unsuccessful attempts to get a decision,” said McCallister.
Allegiance Capital has also made a request for a waiver to the Jones Act, following the expedited process guideline Admiral Thad Allen issued on Tuesday, June 15. We’ve published a detailed account of our experience following Admiral Allen’s recommended process, along with all documents related to our proposal, on Allegiance Capital’s web site at http://www.allcapcorp.com/gulfstates.
Allegiance Capital today learned from a CNN reporter that U.S. government officials were calling the Jones Act a “non-issue” because international boats can assist as long as they do not come closer than three miles to the U.S. shore.
snip
In other words, they have money to lend.
I don’t agree with repealing the act, but I do think it should be waived for oil spill response vessels. It is ridiculous for the arrogance of our nation to allow this disaster to run unchecked.
Local Yocal,
Your right about this, you only have to look back a few years to the so called “Patriot Act” to see proof of it. All it does is unnecessarily burden the average person while doing virtually nothing to stop terrorism, luck is all that stopped the underwear bomber last Christmas, not this law. If you don’t believe it, wait to you have to renew your Florida drivers license, don’t matter if you have had them for 50 years, you are going to have to go to all kinds of unreasonable means to prove who you are. There should be at least a one year wait before laws of this nature are passed.
There are people here in Escambia county, who have the equipment to skim very large amounts of oil.
>Well what happened to your oil map? Only one little story about oil.maybe we will just forget.you think
Oil map is in the oil update story where it usually is:
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=19690
Well what happened to your oil map? Only one little story about oil.maybe we will just forget.you think
This may be a short term solution that could have detrimental long term impacts if this law is repealed. Currently it safeguards US jobs for offshore and maritime workers. If this law is repealed allowing companies to hire foreign workers, many if not all jobs in the offshore fishing, shipping and drilling/oil production arena will go to foreign nationals. A knee jerk reaction could cost many of us our lively hoods and end up with workers who have little if any desire to safeguard our shores. Whether you agree or disagree, the continued uninformed decision making by our countries leadership will in the long term be detrimental to all of our way of lives.