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Energy secretary says Jones Act extension is likely
Chris Wright reinforces move favoring shipping waiver
Chris Wright (left) speaks at the Port of Brownsville in Texas on Aug. 4. (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg)
Key Takeaways:
- Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Aug. 4 the Trump administration is likely to extend a temporary waiver of the Jones Act.
- The waiver eases century-old shipping restrictions for energy products and the administration said it has helped lower prices by improving domestic transport.
- Wright said the waiver is expected to end and conditions will return to normal once energy flows disrupted by the Iran war recover.
Trump administration officials are moving toward granting another temporary extension of a waiver of a century-old shipping law that made it easier to move oil, fuel and fertilizer around the U.S., the nation’s energy chief said Aug. 4.
“I think another temporary extension of the Jones Act waivers are quite likely to happen,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said during a media briefing at the Port of Brownsville in Texas. “These temporary suspensions of the Jones Act have been quite helpful for moving energy around our country.”
Wright’s remarks reinforce expectations for an extended waiver. People familiar with the matter said last month that the Trump administration was advancing plans to renew it.
The 1920 law requires that goods carried by water between domestic ports must be transported on U.S.-flagged, -built and -owned ships. Under the current waiver, those restrictions have been removed for coal, crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas, gas liquids, fertilizer and other energy derivatives, a move the administration said has lowered prices.
Wright, in his remarks Aug. 4, said “things will go back as they were” once energy flows that have been disrupted by the Iran war return to normal.
