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Trump Administration Waives Jones Act to Get Aid Shipments to Puerto Rico

posted by martyb on Saturday September 30 2017, @01:13AM   
from the katrina-redux? dept.

takyon writes:

The U.S. will temporarily waive the requirements of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Jones Act, requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be carried using American vessels crewed by Americans:

The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would temporarily waive a century-old shipping law for Puerto Rico that officials there said was hindering disaster relief efforts after Hurricane Maria.

The waiver of the law, known as the Jones Act, comes as federal and local officials report more supplies trickling onto the increasingly desperate island. But the Trump administration remains under pressure to step up the recovery effort.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced the decision on Twitter on Thursday morning, saying that President Trump had authorized it after a request from Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico.

But the real problem for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico? A lack of truck drivers:

It's one thing to get supplies to Puerto Rico. But officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which administers FEMA, say moving goods around the island is the bigger challenge. Diesel is short. Drivers are scarce. And authorities say some roads are still impassable, although local officials dispute that explanation.

These containers were brought to the island by Crowley, a maritime shipping company. The company started unloading shipments on Saturday. By Friday, it will have received four ships, with a total of about 4,000 loaded crates. Crowley says it has more than 3,000 containers there now. That's just one shipping company, at one port. Several other ports are accepting shipments and stranded crates total an estimated 10,000. "This is food, this is water, this is medicine," says Vice President Jose Ayala, who notes a barge a day has arrived since the port opened on Saturday. "It has reached Puerto Rico. The problem is we can't get it on the shelves."

"Plenty of vessels can get cargo to the island," agrees Mark Miller, Crowley's vice president of communications. "But the real difficulty is getting the goods to the people via trucks."

FEMA: Puerto Rico situation has 'improved significantly'

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Original Submission

• Re:can we end the political posts please? (Score: 5, Informative) by NotSanguine on Saturday September 30 2017, @05:16AM

  by NotSanguine (285) <{NotSanguine} {at} {SoylentNews.Org}> on Saturday September 30 2017, @05:16AM (#575203) Homepage Journal

  Puerto Rico has repeatedly voted to not be a State, and seeing as how things went down the last time a State voted to leave, I don't blame them.

  That's not even close to the truth. In *every* vote (the first in 1967), nearly half of voters expressed a desire for Puerto Rico's statehood, except for the last vote in 2012, where 61% of voters expressed a preference for statehood. In fact, Puerto Rico has *officially* requested that they be admitted to the Union as a state [wikipedia.org]:

  In 1967 Puerto Rico's Legislative Assembly polled the political preferences of the Puerto Rican electorate by passing a plebiscite act that provided for a vote on the status of Puerto Rico. This constituted the first plebiscite by the Legislature for a choice among three status options (commonwealth, statehood, and independence). In subsequent plebiscites organized by Puerto Rico held in 1993 and 1998 (without any formal commitment on the part of the U.S. Government to honor the results), the current political status failed to receive majority support. In 1993, Commonwealth status won by a plurality of votes (48.6% versus 46.3% for statehood), while the "none of the above" option, which was the Popular Democratic Party-sponsored choice, won in 1998 with 50.3% of the votes (versus 46.5% for statehood). Disputes arose as to the definition of each of the ballot alternatives, and Commonwealth advocates, among others, reportedly urged a vote for "none of the above".[155][156][157] The latest referendum on statehood, independence, or an associated republic was held on November 6, 2012. The people of Puerto Rico made history by requesting, for the first time ever, the conclusion of the island's current territorial status. Almost 78% of registered voters participated in a plebiscite held to resolve Puerto Rico's status, and a clear majority (54%) disagreed with Puerto Rico maintaining its present territorial status. Furthermore, among the possible alternatives, sixty-one percent (61%) of voters chose the statehood option, while one third of the ballots were submitted blank.[158][159]

  On December 11, 2012, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico enacted a concurrent resolution requesting the President and the Congress of the United States to respond to the referendum of the people of Puerto Rico, held on November 6, 2012, to end its current form of territorial status and to begin the process to admit Puerto Rico as a State.[100] The initiative has not made Puerto Rico into a state.

  --
  No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr

  Parent

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