CBP could scrap Jones Act revision

**Mikey** · September 18th, 2009, 05:57 AM

CUSTOMS & Border Protection will soon withdraw a proposal to bring US
offshore workboats under the Jones Act, an attorney working closely on
the issue told Fairplay today.

CBP officials were not immediately available for comment, but the
attorney said the agency will be "withdrawing what they did and starting
over", possibly with a revamped proposal.

The customs proposal would have reversed more than three decades of
precedents on foreign-flag workboats serving the US offshore oil and gas
drilling industry.

The changes would have meant that transport of undersea infrastructure
used in deepwater oil extraction would be subject to Jones Act
restrictions - requiring use of vessels built and flagged in the US.

That plan was hailed by the Offshore Marine Service Association as a
means of gaining back US jobs lost to foreign competitors. OMSA
president Ken Wells declined comment to Fairplay on reports that the
initial CBP plan would be scuttled until he "saw any new proposal in
writing".

An official withdrawal notice is expected 1 October, with public
confirmation of the reversal by CBP foreseen "in the near future", the
attorney source told Fairplay.

**seadawg** · September 18th, 2009, 08:23 AM

bummer for a hummer..sounds like some "hard core" lobbying went on with the lights out in the back offices of the CBP..oh well..they almost had all those foreign vessels on the run..guess the companies impacted will "shit can" all the applications they collected!!

**GOMariner** · September 18th, 2009, 10:07 AM

Time to start a letter writing campaign to our reps . If you take a boat or rig overseas the country you you are working wants to put persons from thier country onboard why are we not requiring it here . The company posts letters from the Coast Guard stating they are looking for persons from the US to fill the billet years later they are still looking .

**Jones Act** · September 19th, 2009, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by GOMariner

Time to start a letter writing campaign to our reps . If you take a boat or rig overseas the country you you are working wants to put persons from thier country onboard why are we not requiring it here . The company posts letters from the Coast Guard stating they are looking for persons from the US to fill the billet years later they are still looking .

We have been doing this for over6 months. Please spread the word! Go to http://www.JonesActQuestions.com and hit the Action Alert button in the top right. This will allow you to send a pre-made letter to your Rep, Senators, Pres. O'Bama and the Admiral of the USCG. Steve Gordon

**Sharp21** · October 5th, 2009, 03:37 AM

Yes the proposal has been withdrawn.
S.

**Jones Act** · October 5th, 2009, 08:33 AM

Dear All-

We have changed (Today) the Alert Letter. We have now added the acting Director of the U.S. Customs & Border and re-worded the Action Alert letter. I urge you to re-send the letter and to get others to fill it out as well as we only have this service for about 3 months more. The link is here: http://capwiz.com/jonesactquestions/...SS=Take+Action

Steve Gordon

ps- Please join JonesActQuestions.com as well while you are at it and we will send you are quarterly eNewsletter outlining the recent maritime law decisions as well as updates on the ingoing saga of the Save Our Seamen Campaign.