Shipping restrictions hinder much-needed fuel delivery
Lawmakers seek new suspension of Jones Act of 1920
Some members of Congress want the Trump administration to suspend shipping restrictions to allow more fuel and emergency supplies to reach Puerto Rico.
The Jones Act prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from picking up and delivering fuel between U.S. ports. That act was suspended from Sept. 8 through Sept. 22 to allow shipments to Texas and Florida after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Puerto Rico was included under that waiver for petroleum products.
The Trump administration hasn’t issued a new suspension for Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria struck. That hurricane wiped out the power supply, destroyed cell towers and led to massive fuel shortages on the island, which relies on diesel for much of its power.
President Trump, who plans to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday, said the administration was studying the waiver request but that shipping interests were opposed.
“Well, we’re thinking about that, but we have a lot of shippers and a lot of people and a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted, and we have a lot of ships out there right now,” Trump said.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote to the Department of Homeland Security urging a waiver and ultimately “a full repeal of this archaic and burdensome act.”
“These emergency waivers have been valuable to speed up recovery efforts in the impacted regions,” he wrote. “However, I am very concerned by the department’s decision not to waive the Jones Act for current relief efforts in Puerto Rico, which is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis
The Jones Act prohibits foreign-flagged vessels from picking up and delivering fuel between U.S. ports.
following Hurricane Maria.”
Any request formally goes to Customs and Border Protection and the secretary of Homeland Security.
There was “sufficient capacity” of U.S.-flagged vessels to serve Puerto Rico, Gregory Moore, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.
Waiver requests must be in the interest of national defense. The Defense Department, which made a request for Hurricane Harvey, hasn’t made a new request for Puerto Rico yet. If another agency or shipping company makes the request, it must also be reviewed by the U.S. Maritime Administration.
The Defense Department said in a statement Wednesday that the sea-based response to the disaster will shift to a land-based approach for a longer-term recovery, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the local government.
Elaine Duke, acting secretary of Homeland Security, told a Senate panel Wednesday that when she spoke with Puerto Rico’s governor at 1 p.m. Tuesday, he had no unmet emergency needs. The problem is getting supplies across the island, which is cluttered with debris and landslides, she said.
“First of all, we don’t know of fuel shortages on the island,” Duke told the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “The challenge for us today is getting it distributed.”
Charlie Papavizas, a Washington-based maritime lawyer and partner at Winston and Strawn LLP, said Jones Act waivers before 2005 were typically granted for specific vessels, not for general purposes such as a fuel shortage. But more general waivers have been granted since then for hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Sandy and Irma, he said.
The U.S. Virgin Islands, which have been hit by multiple hurricanes, have a permanent waiver to the Jones Act under the law, but Puerto Rico wasn’t included in that provision.