The American Offshore Worker Fairness Act would require foreign vessels to play on the same playing field as U.S. vessels
New Orleans, LA – The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) today released a new video documenting and denouncing the continued lies of energy developers pursuing offshore wind projects while forsaking U.S. mariners. Over the last several years, offshore wind developers have hired dozens of foreign vessels and hundreds of foreign crews instead of American vessels and crews, all while begging for tax credits from the U.S. government. The enhanced profit the wind developers saved by using foreign crews is costing American jobs and putting national security and sovereignty at risk.
In 2020, Dominion Energy stated they would employ U.S.-flagged vessels for Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Surveys as they conducted pre-construction work on an offshore wind development off the coast of Virginia. Dominion Energy solicited bids from the U.S. maritime industry, receiving at least four offers from U.S. vessel operators, which included Virginia residents with expertise in subsea munitions, yet these competitive and qualified bids were not accepted. Instead of utilizing these qualified U.S vessels and their capable U.S. crews – as they had told Congress they would do, Dominion Energy chose two foreign-flagged and crewed vessels for this work.
The work will be commencing in the coming weeks using dated and previously U.S. flagged vessels, the SUBSEA RESPONDER I and SUBSEA RESPONDER II. These inferior vessels were re-flagged from the U.S. to the Marshall Islands, a “flag of convenience” often used by vessel owners looking to skirt regulatory or tax requirements. In the case of the SUBSEA RESPONDER I, the owner continued to market the vessel as a Jones Act vessel, months after removing the U.S.-flag. The foreign operators employed Russian mariners to complete the work in U.S. waters, while racking up a documented safety record with failed assessments.
“This is the most blatant example I’ve ever seen of an energy developer exploiting loopholes in U.S. law, to line their pockets while costing around 100 U.S. citizens their jobs. Dominion had their pick from multiple ready and capable U.S. vessels – U.S. vessels they told Congress they would be using. Instead, they picked some bottom of the barrel foreign-flagged vessels and gave jobs that should have gone to American mariners to foreign nationals,” said Aaron Smith, President, Offshore Marine Service Association.
Smith continues: “This has to stop. The only way it will stop is for Congress to pass legislation requiring foreign vessels to play on the same playing field as U.S. vessels. All the while, American mariners and maritime companies have come to the table with solutions, compromises, and pathways forward that would allow U.S. mariners and shipyard workers a fair opportunity to compete without harming offshore markets. Yet, despite our willingness to negotiate, Big Oil and Big Wind continue to peddle lies to Congress to preserve their ability to exploit low-wage, foreign workers at the expense of Americans. It’s simple, America’s natural resources should lead to American jobs, not larger profits for foreign investors, and certainly not benefits for adversarial nations.”
Today, the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) reaffirms its call to Congressional leaders to bring parity between U.S.-flagged and foreign-flagged vessels operating in U.S. offshore energy markets by passing the American Offshore Worker Fairness Act (AOWFA). This would ensure that U.S. energy creation means U.S. jobs.
For more information and background about the American Offshore Worker Fairness Act and its impact on American offshore marine operators like Randy Adams, please click here.
The Offshore Marine Service Association OMSA is the leading association of and spokesman and advocate for the offshore marine transportation service industry in the United States. The association represents 130-member companies and their 12,000 U.S. employees based throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit www.offshoremarine.org.
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