[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 152 (Friday, December 12, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PASSAGE OF THE COAST GUARD AND MARITIME TRANSPORTATION ACT OF 2014: A 
 CRITICAL STEP IN THE REVITALIZATION OF U.S. SHIPBUILDING AND MERCHANT 
                                 MARINE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 11, 2014

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, on December 10th, I was proud to bear 
witness to the passage, under Unanimous Consent, of the House and 
Senate compromise language for the Coast Guard and Maritime 
Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2014. S. 2444, the culmination of 
months of hard work and diligent analysis by Coast Guard Subcommittee 
Chairman Duncan Hunter, House Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, Ranking Member Nick Rahall, Senator 
Rockefeller, Senator Thune, myself, and our staff, is a beacon of the 
thoughtful compromise and responsible lawmaking we hope to see more of 
in the coming years.
   Notably, S. 2444 contains a provision to ensure that our commitment 
to U.S. maritime is maintained as America considers the possible 
exportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Existing law, written 
before the natural gas boom when America was forecasted to be an LNG 
importer, authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to develop and 
implement a program to promote the transportation of imported LNG on 
U.S.-flag vessels. Under the Deepwater Ports Act, the Secretary is also 
required to give top priority to the processing of licenses for LNG 
import facilities that will utilize U.S.-flag vessels. S. 2444 includes 
language from H.R. 5270, the Growing American Shipping Act, to 
modernize these laws. LNG exports will now be included in the program 
to promote the use of U.S.-flag vessels in the carriage of LNG, and the 
Secretary will be required to give priority processing to export 
applications for deepwater port terminals that would utilize U.S.-flag 
vessels.
   The U.S. shipbuilding industry and U.S. natural gas market are 
strategic national assets essential to U.S. national security 
interests. Shipbuilding is critical to the growth and flow of our 
economy, and to our ability to control the safety and security of the 
global supply chain. It is also essential to the United States Navy, 
which relies on a select few remaining shipyards for the construction 
of new ships and the repair and refitting of existing ships. Despite 
this importance, our foreign trade fleet has declined from 1,200 ships 
in the 1950s to less than 100 today, and despite having pioneered gas 
tanker technology, America no longer manufactures LNG tanker ships. To 
transport LNG by sea, the world must rely on China, Japan, and South 
Korea to build the requisite tankers.
   Further decline of the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base will 
continue to erode competitive bidding among shipyards, both for 
commercial builds and for Navy shipbuilding needs, thus compromising 
efforts to reduce the deficit and balance the national budget. It will 
also result in the further loss of marine engineering expertise, 
preventing the adoption and utilization of the same cutting edge ship 
construction technologies used by our foreign competitors. Furthermore, 
tens of thousands of American jobs, both inside shipyards and 
throughout the U.S. supply chain, depend on the strength of the 
maritime industry.
   The decline of the shipbuilding industry threatens another strategic 
national asset in reducing key personnel. The U.S. Merchant Marine is a 
highly trained, militarily-useful labor force, and American merchant 
sailors are the foundation of our marine transportation system. Further 
attrition of the Merchant Marine threatens American security because 
our nation relies on this secure source of labor for the movement of 
supplies and military cargo and personnel. The explosive nature of LNG 
strengthens the need to ensure that the transport of LNG, especially 
through U.S. ports, is done by U.S. seafarers, and not foreign crews 
that come with an increased potential for sabotage.
   The export of LNG is projected to slowly ramp up over the next two 
or three years and will then quickly accelerate over the next decade or 
more. This will allow both time and a stable, long-term market demand, 
which--if given the correct incentives--could spur the U.S. 
shipbuilding industry to re-tool its infrastructure and processes to 
ramp up the production of domestic tankers, paving the way for 
production of vessels for export of this strategic national asset. It 
is in the U.S. national interest to utilize the emerging LNG coastwise 
and export trades to provide reliable, long-term markets for U.S. 
commercial shipbuilding and for U.S.-flag operators, to expand and 
increase the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base, and to use LNG export 
trade to strengthen U.S. strategic interests and alliances with LNG 
trading partners.
   Therefore, it is the purpose of this law to enhance the national 
security and port safety of the United States by encouraging to the 
maximum extent practicable the transport of LNG on U.S.-built and -flag 
vessels. This law aims to maintain the technological ability of the 
United States shipbuilding industry to build and repair vessels for the 
Navy and the Coast Guard by maintaining the critical industrial 
infrastructure and skilled human workforce necessary to build such 
vessels. Further, this law promotes American job creation by 
encouraging domestic shipbuilding and the use of U.S. mariners in the 
transport of American LNG.
   This provision of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 
2014 is supported by the Maritime Trades Department (AFL-CIO); the 
Seafarers International Union (AFL-CIO); the Transportation Institute; 
the Shipbuilders Council; the Navy League of the United States; the 
American Maritime Officers; the Marine Engineers' Beneficial 
Association (MEBA); the International Association of Masters, Mates and 
Pilots (MM&P); the Maritime Institute for Research and Industrial 
Development (MIRAID); the Marine Firemen's Union, Metal Trades 
Department (AFL-CIO); the Sailors' Union of the Pacific; the American 
Maritime Officers Service; and the American Maritime Congress. I thank 
these organizations for their commitment to national security, a strong 
maritime industry, and the creation of good American jobs so vital to 
the economic prosperity and future of this nation.

                          ____________________