Hawaii’s Rep. Djou to Obama: Let foreign ships help on Gulf oil clean-up

“There are well-established federal procedures for waiving the Jones Act to bring in foreign vessels in those situations where American vessels are not available,” the statement read. “The American maritime industry has not and will not stand in the way of the use of these well-established waiver procedures to address this crisis.”

A spokesmen for the task force added that the organization was not in favor of a general waiver for the region like the one former President Bush issued in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We oppose a broad waiver, which happened in 2005,” said task force spokesman Mark Ruge. “If there’s an American vessel available to do the duty, the request [for aid from a foreign ship] does not get approved.”

In response to questions about whether President Obama would grant a broad waiver, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters last week that opening the Gulf to foreign ships, as was done in 2005, was not necessary in this case.

E-mail Chris Moody and follow him on Twitter