Congress Moves to Extend Jones Act to Alternative Energy Projects

The Jones Act, which restricts the transportation of merchandise between two points in the United States to qualified U.S.-flag vessels, extends to the U.S. outer continental shelf by virtue of the 1953-enacted Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act or OCSLA. Because OCSLA was written to deal primarily with oil and gas activities on the U.S. outer continental shelf, questions have arisen as to whether it applies the Jones Act to alternative energy projects such as wind farms. OCSLA was amended in 2005 to extend licensing to alternative energy projects, but no change was made to be sure the Jones Act applied. On December 7, the U.S. House of Representatives moved to fix that by passing the POWER Act (H.R. 2360) which amends OCSLA to apply it for all purposes, including the Jones Act, to alternative energy projects.