Jonathan K. Waldron, Matthew J. Thomas, and Patricia M. O’Neill
Background
In the last days of the Obama administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) proposed a major change in coastwise policy in its Proposed Modification and Revocation of Ruling Letters Relating to Customs Application of the Jones Act to the Transportation of Certain Merchandise and Equipment Between Coastwise Points (the “Notice”). The Notice, which was published in the CBP Customs Bulletin, proposed the modification of HQ 101925 (October 7, 1976), a seminal letter ruling upon which CBP and the industry have relied on for over 40 years when applying the Jones Act to vessels engaged in offshore construction, maintenance, and repair activities. (See CBP Customs Bulletin and Decisions, Vol. 51, No. 3, January 18, 2017, available here.)
Although skeptics said it couldn’t happen, the first offshore wind project in the United States is scheduled to begin opera- tion by the end of this year, bringing wind power to shore from waters off Block Island, Rhode Island. Bragging rights can go to Jeffrey Grybowski and his team at Deepwater Wind. The project may be relatively small—five turbines producing only 30 megawatts (“MW”) of wind and providing power to about 17,000 homes—but it is a giant step forward in the world of offshore wind in the United States. 
