Lawmakers are fighting to hold on to crew requirements included in the House’s Coast Guard authorization package that they say incentivize offshore energy developers to deploy more domestic vessels with American crews.
But they face an uphill battle against Capitol Hill’s offshore wind, oil and gas advocates — a bipartisan force who argue that keeping the provision in the Coast Guard legislation would halt a number of key energy development projects, many of which rely on foreign labor.
The requirements would specifically mandate offshore vessels operating on the Outer Continental Shelf be crewed by members of the same nationality as the flag of the vessel, limit the amount of visas offshore energy developers can issue to their workers and require that foreign workers undergo a security check.
