I’m responding to the Oct. 30 article by Tux Turkel (“Winter heating forecast: A perfect storm of high prices, tight supply, global chaos”).
Absent in this article was any mention of the Jones Act, a 100-year-old law that restricts domestic trade to U.S.-built vessels. In 1920, lawmakers thought this legislation would protect U.S. shipyards from foreign competition and ensure a robust shipbuilding industry that could be leveraged in a time of war. Unfortunately, the law has had the opposite effect. The U.S. now builds very few commercial ships and few are available for domestic energy shipments. What this means is that our ports have been cut off from affordable domestic energy sources.
Refinery capacity and global supply disruptions are near impossible challenges to solve in the short term. However, solving a self-imposed domestic energy embargo can be addressed in the short term with a waiver. Ultimate reform of the law should be a long-term priority for Mainers.
Scott Jason
Falmouth
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