CBP could scrap Jones Act revision
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.