The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has warned of proposed legislative changes that would “dramatically change” citizenship crewing requirements for vessels engaged in offshore energy in the US.
IMCA’s new information note said the new rules would “undermine a regulatory scheme” that has served the offshore energy industry well for decades by creating a crew citizenship and visa technical trade barrier that “would derail offshore infrastructure development and adversely affect the energy security of the US”.
The proposed legislative amendments, called the American Offshore Worker Fairness Act, would impact citizenship crewing requirements for vessels engaged in offshore renewables and oil and gas support operations on the outer continental shelf of the US, said IMCA.
“We have seen similar proposals in the past that were rightly defeated after lawmakers were educated by IMCA and its industry partners on the facts, and IMCA looks forward to lawmakers making a similar judgement this year given the criticality of the emerging offshore wind energy market and return of the oil and gas markets,” it added.