•August 29, 2005 – Landfall of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.
•September 1, 2005 – President Bush announces that his Administration is waiving the Jones Act temporarily “for the transportation of petroleum and refined petroleum products.” This was an 18-day waiver.
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•September 24, 2005 – Landfall of Hurricane Rita.
•September 26, 2005 – At President Bush’s direction, Secretary Chertoff again waives the Jones Act with the same limitations as before. This waiver is for 30 days.
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•The direct benefits of a waiver were, in this case, small and diffuse. Waivers allowed 50K barrels per day here, and 100K barrels there, to arrive several days earlier than they would have otherwise. The waiver resulted in handfuls of short-term arrangements that moved fuel more expeditiously to where it was needed in the Southeastern United States.
•The fuel situation was so dire that every little bit helped. The direct benefits were small but still worth doing. We were in a situation where every little bit counted and was worth doing.
•Even more than the added shipping capacity, the waivers’ principal benefits were that they added speed and flexibility to the transportation of fuel.
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•In both waivers, the President ultimately made the decision. I think it was an easy choice for him – he wanted to do everything possible to help solve the pressing short-term problems in the Gulf region.
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•I recommend the President waive the Jones Act for all purposes related to the oil spill and oil spill cleanup. I recommend a 75-day waiver to take us through the end of August (when the relief well is supposed to be done?). I assume a 30-day waiver with the possibility of extension is more practically feasible.
•I recommend the President announce that he is directing Secretary Napolitano to issue the waiver, so that it is a Presidential decision. He would be signaling his willingness to do everything possible to help clean up the Gulf Spill, even if it ticks off certain domestic economic interests.
•I further recommend the President have his press secretary announce, at the podium, that the United States has waived the Jones Act, and that we are asking owners of foreign-flagged ships, wherever they might be in the world, to send those ships to the Gulf of Mexico to help clean up the spill. The State Department would reinforce this message through diplomatic channels.
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