This blog post has nothing to do with Offshore Wind per-sea, but Hurricane Ida came barreling up the Gulf of Mexico and came ashore as a Category 4 packing winds in excess of 170 MPH in the busiest Offshore Oil Supply Port in America.
“Port Fourchon.”
If it wasn’t for the Jones Act, relief efforts like what I’m going to share in the post would never happen.
Luckily, most of the boats got the heck out of there, headed west and packed in ports like Cameron, LA and Galveston, Tx.
The day after the storm, I got a call from a friend of a friend looking for a captain who could jump on one of his larger Supply boats that was docked in Key West, load it with any supplies possible and run it up to a little town in the bayou called Dulak.
The captain of the vessel flew home to prepare his house for the storm, and like so many others in the area, it was destroyed. They needed supplies, and they needed the boat back so the folks could have a place to eat, sleep and shower!
Anyway, I jumped at the chance to help and within 10 minutes I had a boarding pass on for a flight the next day.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
- I have never been or the boat.
- Have no idea what it looks like.
- Didn’t even know the name of it.
All I knew was Americans were suffering from a devastating hurricane and I had a job to do. I was texted a number to call upon landing and someone would pick me up at the airport and drop me off at the boat.
The only way this could have been accomplished it because the boat was built under the Law of the Jones Act.
American owned, American built, and American crewed.
If we didn’t have the Jones Act, it never have happened.
It took me all of about 20 minutes to familiarize myself with the Pilot House and Engine Room and we were ready to set sail.
The Jones Act has been coming under fire of late from a few self serving scumbag politicians who have been bought off by foreign corporations. The same corporations who I assume have ben funding the Cato Institute to produce bogus information attacking the Jones Act.
What Does This Have to Do With Hurricane Relief Efforts?
PLENTY:
Could you imagine having to call a boat owner in China who could care less about an American storm. You’d need to find a translator, then beg for use of the boat, get clearances and who knows what else.
If you’ve ever had to deal with a marine engine manufacturer overseas with a broken down engine needing parts immediately, you know EXACTLY what I mean.
The marine business in the USA is a relatively tight-nit community. Everyone pretty much knows everyone, and if they don’t they know someone who knows someone to get you what you need. This “network” will virtually vanish if the Jones Act gets hacked from a money grubbing politician.
Getting back to relief efforts:
The local newspaper wrote and article about the boat taking supplies to people in need and we had a constant flow of people bringing supplies to the boat, so we were delayed departure for about 36 hrs.
I flew in Friday, Sept 3, 2021, dropped lines September 5 at 3PM and arrived in Dulac, LA on September 8 at 10:00AM.
No flights home were available. I was lucky to get a flight out the next morning with TWO connecting flights.
On the way home from the Airport, I took a few pictures with tears streaming down my face.
If you’ve ever had to endure a storm like that you know what I mean.
The good folks in the coastal town of Louisiana: Dulac, Houma, Raceland, Cutoff Galliano Golden Meadow and a few others, their lives have been turned upside down and they need help.
If you have it in your heart, please contribute to the relief efforts down there.
I’m not going to recommend any particular charity because I don’t want to get into any political pond scum name calling.
Just type “how to donate to hurricane ida” into a web browser and pick one of your liking.
Time to end this – plane boarding in 5 minutes.