Jones Act NOT Blocking Aid Ships to Gulf'

[bik0]

The 2nd largest deepwater operator in the Gulf of Mexico came on Countdown to the Closing Bell today to clear up what he says is major misinformation.
In a First on FBN interview, Todd Hornbeck, the CEO of Hornbeck Offshore, came on to discuss how his company has filed a lawsuit in an effort to get the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling lifted. The moratorium is hurting his business so dramatically that Hornbeck says he's one week away from pulling all his equipment and moving it and all those jobs to South America.

A judge heard arguments on the suit today and is expected to make a decision by Wednesday.

But while discussing his suit with me on the show, he asked if he could clear up the misconception about the Jones Act which requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried by U.S. flag ships... meaning, no vessels w/ foreign flags can come into the Gulf. Since the BP spill began April 20th, there have been calls to temporary suspend the Jones Act so that foreign ships could come in to help skim the oil and caid in the clean-up.

Hornbeck flat-out told us that this is NOT an issue that's preventing foreign ships from coming in to the Gulf to help. He even gave the number of vessels from other countries that are in the Gulf RIGHT NOW helping with the situation. Please listen to the interview. We may have way bigger problems than the Jones Act to deal with at this point.
--Liz


Read more: http://liz.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/06/21/jones-act-not-blocking-aid-ships-to-gulf-hornbeck-ceo/#ixzz0rdCsRXSv