Why was the Jones Act not suspended during the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill?

Answer 1

It is not necessary to suspend the act in order for the foreign ships to help.No Jones Act waivers are needed for vessels operating more than three miles from shore. This has been repeated and restated by Admiral Allan on June 30, 2010.

(1). As of June 15, 2010, Admiral Allan announced that 15 foreign ships were working on the spill (2). The Jones act is only used for governing commerce and not for governing crisis response. It did not affect the response to this crisis(3).

Some help was refused because it was deemed that either the chemicals or processes used were either potentially dangerous to the environment or were not deemed effective. You can question the technical reasons why help was refused but make sure you understand issues before listening to talking points.

Suspension of the Jones Act consequencesSuspending the Jones Act will not help the clean-up. Rather it would:

• Hurt US marine economy by allowing foreign vessels and foreign crews to operate in US ports and waters.
• Make the ports less secure, particularly against terrorism and smuggling.

Other Suspensions of the Jones ActKatrina caused New Orleans' levees to breach on Aug. 29, 2005. Bush waived the Jones Act on Sept. 1, 2005 to allow transportation of oil to other ports and not for rescue or clean up.