The Jones Act “requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on ships that have been constructed in the United States and that fly the U.S. flag, are owned by U.S. citizens, and are crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents.”
It was passed over 100 years ago as part of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 when it might have made some sense (I can’t speak to that), but it has become an expensive and nonsensical burden. Congress needs to change it ASAP, when the new congress convenes, so that when President Trump gets to work on January 20, we can forget about this problem.
Just north of Boston in Everett, Massachusetts sits the poster child for irrational energy permitting in the United States. The Everett Marine Terminal is a facility that connects imported liquefied natural gas (LNG)—often from Trinidad, more than 2,200 miles away—to natural gas delivery networks in New England.
The Jones Act prohibits transporting anything by ship from other US ports unless the ships and crew are American. This policy is bad for the environment (if that’s your thing) because diesel-powered tankers travel thousands of miles from foreign suppliers when we could get LNG from a few hundred miles away.
We pay more for LNG, and an entire region of the US is energy-dependent on foreign supply when a few miles away, we have one of the largest shale gas deposits in the world.
The Marcellus is massive, and while little blue weenies in New York won’t allow a direct pipeline (Massachusetts and Vermont Blue weenies are weenies as well), we could still ship the stuff from the easter seaboard up to Everett or even closer if New Hampshire stopped wasting time with killing whales with Wind machines and explored putting an LNG Terminal in Portsmouth (Gasp!).
But wait, there’s more.
The pro-migrant crowd should be on board with this, too. How many qualified non-residents (whom you’d love to allow to vote) can’t get good-paying jobs because of the Jones Act? If ships and crews have to be American citizens, doesn’t this cut them out entirely? Might I suggest unvetted Arab and Chinese males who are between and 34?
Just as absurd, yes?
It would be a dark comedy of errors if the people of New England suffered because of inept energy policies and unnecessary barriers to energy resources even beyond predictably higher prices. As one example, fuel security has been a concern for the New England grid for several years, and many believe it is a matter of time until the region faces blackouts during a prolonged winter storm.
We’ve discussed this on these pages at length for the better part of a decade, so it’s not a new problem. However, as demand has risen, the desire to do anything about it has remained the same. No new pipelines, and how about some intermittent unreliable alternatives instead? How about no, or—since we’re all adults here—F-off! Fix this before someone freezes to death. Indoors.
One final point. The fake green warriors who are putting all our eggs in the wind and solar basket are going to have to cave on powerline corridors. You can’t move what you do get without them. Lots of them. Leading everywhere. Even our cave, which is where we will likely end up if this crap-track of energy mismanagement foolishness is allowed to continue.
