wells
"We need to talk about the Jones Act ..."
Ken Wells is the President of the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA). OMSA is the national trade association that represents the owners of U.S. flag vessels that work in the offshore oil and gas sector.
This is an open letter to the offshore oil and gas industry operating on the U.S. outer continental shelf. Dear Customer: We need to talk about the Jones Act and the other cabotage laws that require you to use U.S.-flag vessels to transport cargo and people from one part of America to another. You already know that, as the association that represents the owners and operators of U.S. flag workboats, we are willing to fight to protect the Jones Act. And we know that a lot of you don't like the Jones Act and wish it didn't exist. However, I am writing you today to urge you to rethink the Jones Act and recognize that using U.S. vessels makes good business sense. First let me make clear that we believe that the companies that work in America's offshore oilpatch want to obey
the laws of this country and if you understand the requirements of the Jones Act, you will live by them. The penalties of disobeying it are simply too high. On that front, there is no chance that the Jones Act is going to go away any time soon, especially for the offshore sector. In the past four years, Congress has passed bills that strengthen or beef up enforcement of the U.S. flag requirement six times. What's more, those bills were specifically aimed at vessels working in the offshore oil patch. On the enforcement side, the Customs and Border Protection Service and the Coast Guard have begun working in much closer coordination on enforcement issues and have held joint training sessions on Jones Act violations. Congress wants this law enforced and the agencies want to enforce it. But enough about the law. There are reasons that U.S. flag vessels are good for your business. The first is safety. Working together, the American boat operators and their oil and gas customers are responsible for one of the safest offshore environments found in the world and one of the safest sectors of the maritime industry. Those U.S. flag vessels undergo some of the most rigorous regulatory oversight of any flag state and the mariners on those boats have gone through one of the most extensive background checks and drug and alcohol testing found anywhere. The next reason is security. American offshore supply vessels have security plans and their mariners have gone through security checks. Although reporting regulations are being developed by the Coast Guard, foreign vessels working in the Gulf of Mexico can still avoid telling the government who's on board or even reporting their presence in U.S. waters. The offshore industry works in enough political hot spots around the globe to respect the security you find off our coasts. We hope you share our view that the hundreds of facilities in our Outer Continental Shelf are too valuable to gamble with.
April 2008
28 MN