Posted on December 20, 2024
In Mike Schuler‘s piece in gCaptain yesterday on “EU Delegation’s Covert Campaign to Dismantle Jones Act Exposed in Government Filing” is disturbing. At a time when the offshore wind industry is dancing on the tip of a needle with respect to the incoming Trump Administration, foreign developers such as Ørsted, Equinor, and Vestas should make it clear that they are not participating in the campaign to replace U.S. companies and hundreds of thousands of hard-working American families with foreign-owned interests. The incoming Administration is America First, and certainly attacking American companies, the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and offshore U.S. mariners is not a well thought out plan — it’s tone deaf.
In an original filing with the U.S. Department of Justice, foreign agents with a clear intent to dismantle U.S. policy and the national security interests embedded in America’s coastwise laws, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. A European firm (IBF) disclosed that it is being supervised and directed by a foreign government, foreign political party or other foreign principal — specifically in cooperation with the “European Union, European Commission, European Parliament, European Directories and European Agencies.” The service contract itself states this sneaky effort is financed by the “European Commission and implemented by the EU Delegation …”
How can anyone trust the EU offshore wind, dredging and marine construction developers when they tell American maritime companies, shipbuilders, workers (Offshore Marine Service Association) and service providers that they respect our coastwise laws when their own government(s) is/are covertly trying to eliminate U.S. policy and the very laws that govern maritime practice and procedure in the United States.
More disturbing is that the Cato Institute is included in the conspiracy throughout the original Foreign Agent filing. Indeed, the summary page of that registration states:
“A partnership with CATO was developed for executing this activity. The CATO Institute is at the forefront of the battle against the Jones Act… CATO’s lead researcher on the Jones Act, Dr. Colin Grabow, and CATO’s team, will cooperate in [repealing U.S. law] …”
CATO claims they don’t lobby. Huh?
The revelations that CATO was actively collaborating with foreign interests to influence U.S. policy are more than just concerning. It raises urgent questions: What other policies is CATO advancing on behalf of foreign powers? Who are these foreign actors, and how deeply rooted is their relationship with CATO?
When it comes down to it, why is it always the reflex of CATO to replace U.S. companies and hundreds of thousands of hard-working American families with foreign-owned interests?
There will be more to come on this… Not the least of which from maritime industry thought leaders like John D. McCown wrote extensively this past year on the three-card monte scheme CATO plays.
