Biden administration FINALLY waives law to let foreign ship deliver diesel to Puerto Rico

The Biden administration said Wednesday it would waive a 100-year-old law designed to protect the U.S. shipbuilding industry that would allow a foreign-registered ship to deliver 300,000 barrels of diesel to hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Local leaders had pressured Washington when a BP tanker was shut down outside the island for days amid legal wrangling.

The result was growing anger at the way the 1920 Jones Act prevented much-needed fuel from reaching Puerto Rico and its shattered energy grid.

“In response to the urgent and immediate needs of the Puerto Rican people in the wake of Hurricane Fiona, I have approved a temporary and targeted waiver of the Jones Act to ensure that the people of Puerto Rican have enough diesel to power generators.” operate critical facilities as they recover from Hurricane Fiona,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said Wednesday afternoon.

“The decision to approve the waiver was made in consultation with the Departments of Transportation, Energy and Defense to assess the justification for the waiver request and based on input from the Governor of Puerto Rico and others on the ground supporting recovery efforts. ‘

The storm last week knocked out hundreds of power lines and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power.

In response, a ship carrying 300,000 barrels of diesel left Texas City and was set to dock in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, on Sunday night.

But the Marshall Islands-flagged ship was in violation of the Jones Act, which requires goods shipped between ports in the United States to be carried on American-flagged ships.

It left the ship, the GH Parks, days late despite increasing appeals from Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, lawyers and members of Congress.

Eight lawmakers, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wrote an open letter to Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas already asked for the waiver last week.

After the storm knocked out hundreds of power lines and left hundreds of thousands of residents without power, a ship carrying 300,000 barrels of much-needed diesel fuel left Texas City and was set to dock in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico Sunday night.

Due to a 100-year-old law known as the Jones Act, the ship has been left stationary in the waters of the storm-ravaged island

Asked about whether to waive the law on Tuesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House is “doing everything we can” to support Puerto Rico and still “barely evaluates” requests for waivers.

“When it comes to the specific situation, we are committed to doing everything we can within our legal authority to support Puerto Rico,” she said. “The Biden administration is closely reviewing all requests for waivers that come in, including this one.”

The Jones Act requires that all goods transported between US ports be carried by ships built and operated by Americans. The bill is supported by unions and fits into President Biden’s “Made in America” ​​agenda, but now Puerto Ricans are demanding that the Biden government grant a waiver for the ship, which sails under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

Joel Piza Batiz, executive director of the Port Authority, confirmed that a request for a waiver from the Jones Act had been filed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He added that Puerto Rican officials were ready to provide any information to DHS needed for the waiver.

The ship has not been authorized to dock in Puerto Rico

Men ride their motorcycles through the flooded streets of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico last week

A satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a sunken bridge in the Rio Grande de Arecibo River after flooding caused by Hurricane Fiona, in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Sept. 21, 2022.

A man rides a horse in a flooded street after the passage of Hurricane Fiona, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, September 19, 2022

As news of the holding ship began to spread, Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. their voices to calls for exemption.

“@WhiteHouse must grant this Jones Act waiver immediately and provide much-needed assistance to the people of Puerto Rico,” Lee wrote on Twitter.

An official in the Biden administration told the Washington Post that waiving the law requires an inter-agency process to determine its legality.

For one-time rush requests, such as those for the BP vessel, DHS aims to complete the assessment process in two days. Exemption requests must demonstrate that the items being shipped are necessary for national defense and cannot be obtained in the US by any other means

The American Maritime Partnership, a coalition representing US-flagged ships and unions benefiting from the Jones Act, wrote to Mayorkas on Friday explaining why the law should not be lifted in the wake of Fiona.

The group argued that domestic ships were ready and available to carry supplies to Puerto Rico and that waiving the Jones Act would support foreign shippers more than Puerto Ricans.