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Senate Commerce Committee News

18 Dec 2023

The Man Behind the 'Jones Act'

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones (Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, photograph by Harris and Ewing, [LC-DIG-hec-15427])

Senator Wesley Livsey Jones gave his name to the famous “Jones Act” governing U.S. domestic maritime trade. But what do really know about him? It turns out that he was much more than a leading merchant marine policy maker. (i)Jones had a long career in the U.S. House of Representatives before he was a Senator, was an effective legislator, an astute politician, one of the hardest working legislators of his era, and always viewed as honest and forthright. His many maritime legislative successes included the Merchant Marine Act…

07 Nov 2022

Great Lakes Winter Supply Chain – A Cause for Concern

(Image: Lake Carriers’ Association)

As the temperatures start their annual decline on the Great Lakes, an icy chill is in the air. Shipping companies across the lakes are rushing to get final loads of critical raw materials from the northern lakes to the manufacturing facilities on the lower lakes. The gales of November began blowing in October this year, tightening the constraint on the remaining days before the large navigational lock in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. will close for the season and shipping virtually halts.While high winds and seas can only be avoided, ice can be effectively managed by the U.S.

12 May 2022

Lack of Icebreakers Hinders Great Lakes Shipping

(Photo: Great Lakes Maritime Task Force)

A lack of U.S. Coast Guard icebreaking capacity is hindering shipping on the Great Lakes, a U.S. maritime industry coalition said on Thursday.During this year’s ice season, the U.S.-flag Great Lakes shipping industry lost the equivalent of a month due to delays in ice covered waters, according to the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force, which represents U.S.-flag vessel operators, shipboard and longshore unions, port authorities, cargo shippers, terminal operators, shipyards and other Great Lakes interests.

10 May 2022

Ann Phillips Confirmed as Next MARAD Administrator

Ann Phillips (File photo: Gretchen Albrecht / U.S. Navy)

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Ann C. Phillips as Administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), filling a position that has been left vacant at the Department of Transportation (DOT) since January 2021. Phillips was confirmed by a vote of 75-22.Phillips, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, takes over as head of the DOT's maritime agency amid continued shipping and supply chain disruption as well as historic levels of government funding for maritime and port infrastructure projects. She succeeds Mark Buzby, who resigned from the role in the wake of the insurrection at the U.S.

30 Jul 2020

Congress Responds to COVID19 and Other Challenges for the Maritime Industry

© Sono Creative/AdobeStock

In response to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the Congressional Research Service released a report that stated global economic growth has declined by 3% to 6% in 2020 with a partial recovery predicted for 2021. Also, the GDP of the U.S. has fallen by 5% in the first quarter 2020. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the maritime industry, and seafarers themselves, have not been able to escape the significant effects of this crisis.All sectors of the maritime industry have been adversely affected by the global pandemic.

18 Feb 2020

The Federal Government’s 2020 Inland Impact

© William J. Chizek / Adobe Stock

It is often difficult to push through the federal government morass to focus on the issues that actually matter to the inland operator. While 2020 inevitably will be a contentious year in American politics, it is critical to stay focused on the items that will have direct impact on the U.S. maritime industry. From a potential new Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill to potential Jones Act challenges, 2020 will be an important year for inland operators to stay politically engaged.Work on WRDAJanuary marked the beginning of Congress’ work in earnest toward introducing a new WRDA bill.

15 Apr 2019

WASHINGTON WATCH: A Tale of Two Fleets

Jeff Vogel, a Member in Cozen O’Connor’s Transportation & Trade Group.

Mixed Government Support for U.S. Shipbuilding.It has been a busy start to the 116th Congress for the U.S. shipbuilding industry, with three congressional hearings in early March focused on the industry’s role as a critical component of the U.S. national security industrial base. In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, which was signed into law on February 15, contained mixed news for shipbuilding programs. Through the congressional hearings and enacted legislation, two opposing themes have emerged.

16 Apr 2018

sVGP Compliance Difficulties Continue for the Workboat Sector

(Image: Ecochlor)

The recent implementation (January 19, 2018) of the long-delayed small Vessel General Permit (sVGP) requirement has major implications for environmental regulations in general, and specifically how the compliance difficulties continue for vessel owners with no real end in sight. Moreover, the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) recent publication of NVIC 01-18 (March 1, 2018), while helpful in advising owners on how to comply with the ballast water regulations, does not relieve vessels from the underlying requirements…

18 May 2017

AWO Welcomes CVIDA Inclusion in Coast Guard Authorization Bill

Tom Allegretti (Photo: AWO)

The American Waterways Operators (AWO) said it welcomes the inclusion of the Commercial Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (CVIDA) and the recapitalization of the aging fleet of inland waterway tenders as part of the FY 2018 Coast Guard Reauthorization Act, which was approved today by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation by voice vote. CVIDA is bipartisan legislation that streamlines what is currently a broken regulatory system in which commercial vessels moving vital maritime commerce on U.S.

05 Apr 2016

Support for Uniform National Discharge Legislation Builds

AWO Pushes VIDA as the solution to the confusing patchwork of federal and state regulations that makes compliance unnecessarily complicated and costly. Even as the ballast water treatment issue becomes more and more confusing – both here and abroad – a united coalition of maritime stakeholders has expressed strong support for S.373, also known as amendment number 3170 (for the current energy bill). The law, known simply as the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), would establish a nationally uniform and environmentally sound standard for ballast water and other vessel discharges, in lieu of the current overlapping patchwork of federal and state regulations that makes compliance complicated, confusing and costly.

25 Aug 2015

AWO Working Hard for the Domestic Workboat Market

Higman Barges by Capt. Darren Istre

The year 2015 has been a busy year for The American Waterways Operators, the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, and for the industry AWO is privileged to represent. It’s a dynamic time for a vital industry that constitutes the largest segment of the U.S. domestic fleet, as companies throughout the industry are investing heavily to meet evolving customer needs; the industry stands on the verge of historic regulatory change; and AWO pursues an active public policy agenda to support members’ needs for predictable and practicable government policy.

14 Jul 2015

Train Lobby Pushes to Weaken Safety Rule

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is set to be a chief beneficiary of a bid by Senate Republicans to weaken new regulations to improve train safety in the $2.8 billion crude-by-rail industry, a key cog in the development of the vast North American shale oil fields. A series of oil train accidents, including the July 2013 explosion of a train carrying crude in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people, led U.S. and Canadian regulators to announce sweeping safety rules in May. Among other things, U.S. oil trains are required to install new electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. But in late June, the Republican-controlled Senate Commerce Committee approved a measure to drop that requirement, and order years of new research to confirm the safety benefits of ECP brakes.

25 Jun 2015

US Senate Panel Approves Bill to Monitor Port Performance

A divided Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday approved legislation requiring the government to report on the performance of major U.S. port operations, including during labor contract talks. The voice vote, which follows a nine-month slowdown at 29 West Coast ports, sent the measure on to possible floor action, over the objections of Democrats and unions who warned that it could lead to improper federal intervention in contract talks. Titled the Port Performance Act, the bill is intended to help Congress analyze supply trends and identify freight bottlenecks by requiring U.S. Department of Transportation data on capacity levels and cargo volumes at major U.S. ports.

05 Mar 2015

Senate Committee Approves Vessel Discharge Reform Legislation

John Thune (R-SD), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation  (Official Senate portrait)

The effort to establish a uniform national framework for the regulation of vessel discharges took another step forward as the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved S. 373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, with strong bipartisan support. A broad-based coalition of nearly 60 organizations joined the American Waterways Operators in urging the committee to approve VIDA. This measure would replace a patchwork of overlapping and conflicting federal and state regulations with a uniform, science-based federal framework for vessel discharge regulation.

23 Feb 2015

Coalition Calls for Action on Vessel Discharge Legislation

The American Waterways Operators (AWO) and a broad-based coalition of organizations that rely on marine vessels to transport essential cargoes said a uniform national framework for the regulation of vessel discharges is urgently needed. The coalition called upon the Senate Commerce Committee to move quickly to approve S.373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA), bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). In a letter to Senators Thune and Nelson, respectively the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Commerce Committee, the coalition stated that vessel discharge reform legislation would rectify an untenable situation “by establishing a uniform…

19 Feb 2015

Pressure Mounts to Settle West Coast Port Dispute

LOS ANGELES, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries joined congressional leaders, three governors and a big-city mayor on Wednesday in pushing shipping lines and the dockworkers' union to settle a contract dispute that has led to months of turmoil and cargo backups at 29 West Coast ports. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker weighed in as emissaries of President Barack Obama, who has come under rising political pressure to intervene in a conflict that has reverberated through the trans-Pacific commercial supply chain and could, by some estimates, cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars. Worsening cargo congestion that the union and shippers blame on each other has slowed freight traffic since October at the ports, which handle nearly half of all U.S.

25 Nov 2014

Will Congress Pass Any Maritime Legislation in 2014?

Jonathan K. Waldron

Following its usual summer break over August 2014, Congress came back from its five-week summer recess and spent a whopping eight days or so back in session before recessing once again, approximately a week early, to hit the campaign trail for the November elections. This essentially means that including the summer recess, Congress will have been in session for a total of about eight days between the end of July and the middle of November 2014. No wonder why Congress has not been able to accomplish much this year, to date.

23 Jun 2014

Coalition Asks Senate for Vessel Discharge Legislation

Tom Allegretti, AWO’s President & CEO

On June 20, a diverse coalition of 58 national and regional organizations representing a wide array of leading business, maritime and labor organizations signed on to a letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) urging that the committee mark up and approve S. 2094, a bill that would establish a uniform, science-based national framework for the regulation of ballast water and other vessel discharges. S. 2094, introduced on March 6 by Sens.

22 Jan 2014

Boxer, Shuster to be AAPA’s 2014 ‘Port Persons of Year’

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster  (R-PA) have been jointly selected to receive the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 2014 “Port Person of the Year” award. The bi-partisan nomination for AAPA’s most prestigious annual award was submitted by the California Association of Port Authorities (CAPA). Marking its 102nd year as the Western Hemisphere’s leading trade association representing port authorities, AAPA selected Sen. Boxer and Cong. Shuster based on their dedication to improving America’s water resources, infrastructure and freight transportation policy. Their work toward reforming federal water resources development legislation…

14 Apr 2013

Cruise Line Maintains Coast Guard Help Free of Charge

Carnival Corp, resists reimbursement of costs incurred by US Government through assistance rendered to their disabled 'Carnival Triumph'. Carnival Corp. says all maritime interests must assist without question those in trouble at sea, a duty that would not include reimbursing the U.S. government nearly $780,000 for costs associated with the rescue of the crippled Triumph cruise ship, reports the Associated Press. Carnival recently released letters replying to an inquiry by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, about the Triumph stranding and the cruise line's overall safety record.

25 Jun 2012

AWO: Senate Bill Would Protect Marine Environment

Bipartisan legislation introduced by Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) and nine co-sponsors would establish a strong, nationally consistent standard for ballast water and other vessel discharges, bringing good news for the marine environment and for maritime commerce, the American Waterways Operators (AWO) announced. S. 3332, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, would require the U.S. Coast Guard to implement the most environmentally protective ballast water discharge standard achievable by existing technology.

29 Sep 2008

Cummings Issues Statement on Deepwater

Mr. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6999, the Integrated Deepwater Program Reform Act of 2008. This legislation is based on similar Deepwater reform legislation, H.R. 2722, which passed the House by a vote of 426 to 0 last year, and on S. 924, which passed the Senate by unanimous consent. ·       Chairwoman Cantwell and Ranking Member Snowe of that Committee’s Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard. Each of these Members worked to craft the thoughtful and measured legislation before us – and I applaud their leadership and their dedication to ensuring effective management and oversight both of the United States Coast Guard and of taxpayers’ resources. Mr.

16 May 2008

Oil Spill Bill Forwarded

The Senate Commerce Committee approved the Oil Spill Prevention Act, legislation introduced by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and cosponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) that aims to make ships safer and assess and improve vessel tracking procedures.Boxer said, “Californians know all too well the devastation an oil spill can cause to our waters, wildlife and our communities. Just last fall, 58,000 gallons of toxic bunker fuel poured into the San Francisco Bay after the Cosco Busan struck the Bay Bridge. This bill addresses some of the issues raised in the wake of that accident, including the need to ensure the Coast Guard has the clear authority to direct the movement of vessel traffic, especially in dangerous conditions.