Needed: Straight Talk on the Jones Act and LNG

Colin GrabowLast week Aaron Smith, president and CEO of the Offshore Marine Service Association, testified before the House Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. As the head of a group whichardently backs the Jones Act it was no surprise that Smith used hisopening statement to press for an even more restrictive interpretation of the law's provisions. Shortly after that statement he then had this exchange with Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), the subcommittee's Ranking Member:Gibbs: "We're exporting LNG now —largest producer in the world of natural gas and oil. And my understanding is...we pick up LNG shipments in the Gulf area and then they export to other countries but to get LNG in needed areas of the country, like in New England area for example, they have to get it from foreign. What can we do t o adjust, fix it? How can we handle it so we can, Americans can burn LNG, natural gas, domestically-produced LNG and natural gas?"Smith: "Sure. Thank you for the question, Ranking Member Gibbs. The American maritime industry is willing to meet any challenge. And in fact, what we're best at is overbuilding the market. If you give us the signals that a market will be protected, we're probably going to build too many ships for it. And if you, with these signals now that LNG is going to be protected by this administration, what we're seeing is even the European trade magazines are already saying that there's going to be U.S. LNG capacity. One of my members just launched...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs