June 19, 2010

Why Obama turned down foreign ships to clean up the Gulf.

President Obama has repeatedly said his Administration is doing everything in its power to expedite the oil clean-up and mitigate the damage. But in the two weeks immediately after the spill, 13 foreign governments reached out and offered their assistance. The U.S. response? Thanks, but no thanks.

Or at least that’s how Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston, described the U.S. answer. The State Department phrased it slightly differently: “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.” One month later, many of these offers are still outstanding.

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.

Presidents can suspend the Jones Act in emergencies, as George W. Bush did after Hurricane Katrina. But the Obama Administration continues to maintain that this isn’t necessary and that there are “no pending requests” for waivers. But Florida Republican Senator George LeMieux disagrees and says his constituents want all the foreign help possible.

Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575306881766723718.html

2 Comments »

1. The Jones Act does not apply here. It’s restrictions end at the 3-mile limit. Idiots should not be permitted to write for the WSJ, Rupert. Quarantine the in Fox News…

   Comment by Karl Mueller — July 7, 2010 @ 2:03 pm

2. Are you saying that ships built in Holland and Belgium, whose shipbuilding and outfitting industries are near 100% unionized, and pay high European rates of pay (roughly 80% higher than in the U.S.) are free of “high union labor costs”?? This is simply not factual. The reeason Dutch, Belgian, and Finnish shipbuilders are so competitive is the generally superior quality of ships build under the high standards fostered by the cooperation of unions, private business, and government. You would do better making your argument respecting the facts, not distorting them…

   Comment by William Wilkinson — August 16, 2010 @ 8:49 am

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