NOT Blowin’ in the Wind[1]
Ben Korn
Just under 30 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the wind is blowing.[2] The consistent gusts have attracted the attention of the state’s public energy utility, Dominion Energy, as it builds the largest offshore wind farm in the mid-Atlantic region, comprising 176 turbines.[3] Once completed, the project will power some 660,000 Virginian homes.[4] Clean, renewable power could not come soon enough – a report by the state legislature predicts that the demand for electricity in the state will triple by 2040, in large part because of the rapid development of power-intensive data centers.[5]
This project’s proximity to the shore – like much of the eastern seaboard’s windy coast – could have provided an efficient edge in helping the United States catch up in the global production of electricity from offshore wind. (Europe has 5,400 offshore wind turbines producing 16.3 GW.[6] The United States has 7 producing 0.17 GW.)[7]
Yet, Dominion finds itself forced to launch construction vessels from a port in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, adding over 1,800 miles to the trip, increasing fuel consumption, costs, as well as project length, risking further delay. At issue is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.
“An adequate merchant marine that will secure our own interests and promote the worlds welfare”
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is Congress’ “most far reaching” regulation of coastal shipping.[8] Section 55102 of the statute requires that all cargo transported between points in the United States be carried by a U.S.-built, crewed, and owned ship.[9] This provision, referred to as the Jones Act, is named after U.S. Senator Wesley Jones, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and the leading proponent of the bill. In a journal essay outlining his justification and aims for the bill, the Senator said that it was “necessary for our commercial growth, our national defence [sic] and national independence . . . .” The Senator, in the same essay, noted that “There may be provisions in the act that ought not to be there. Experience will show them and they will be removed.”[10] Experience shows us that Section 55102 ‘ought not to be there’.
Detours, delays, and dangerous workarounds
The construction of offshore wind turbines requires at least 36 different types of vessels – all of which must be Jones Act compliant, meaning built, crewed, and owned by Americans.[11] The most complicated vessel needed is the wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV).[12] These massive ships must be long enough to transport the turbines – which themselves are taller than the Washington Monument – and stable enough to construct the turbines once out at sea, using the ship’s built-in crane.[13] There are currently zero American-built WTIVs.[14]
As such, the nascent American offshore wind industry is forced to employ imperfect and costly workarounds. One such workaround is dispatching a foreign-built WTIV from a foreign port, as Dominion Energy did for its project off the coast of Virginia, rendering the trip outside the scope of the Jones Act because the trip is not between two U.S. points. While this method successfully accommodates the Jones Act, the 1,600-mile round trip journey takes weeks to complete, increasing costs and adding constraints to the project’s already tight schedule, which must cease from the end of October to May to protect migrating North Atlantic Right Whales.[15] Moreover, it undercuts the $250 million state investment into Norfolk’s port to “handle the large and heavy components used in the construction of offshore wind turbines” to support these very types of projects.[16]
Another workaround is to use U.S.-built and operated feeder barges to carry turbine components to the offshore site. Once there, the foreign-built WTIVs pick up the components, and that specialized ship will then construct the wind turbine. Emily Jones Huggins, a lawyer who specializes in maritime and offshore wind law, explains that this maneuver takes advantage of statutory interpretation by Customs and Border Patrol. The agency has determined that “a foreign vessel can lift cargo from a US-vessel, if it’s stationary, but it generally can’t move in that process,” so use of the foreign-built WTIV for the lifting and construction is allowed.[17] If the foreign-built WTIV were to move outside of the stationary position, such as transporting the turbines it was designed to carry, would violate the Jones Act. Thus, companies are forced to rely on use of such feeder barges which is a “risky task” that is often delayed by bad weather.[18]
A more permanent solution would be to construct a WTIV here in the U.S. Indeed, Dominion Energy joined with a ship manufacturer to build the first U.S.-based installation vessel out of a port in Brownsville, Texas.[19] A project originally expected to cost $500 million is now expected to cost $715 million and is running two years behind schedule.[20]
A two-hundred-word solution
A more permanent solution would be to amend the Merchant Marine Act to include an exemption for wind turbine installation vessels. There is historical precedent for such a move. In 2006, Congress passed a relatively short amendment exempting specialized vessels used in the construction of floating oil platforms.[21] A similar two-hundred-word amendment could remove the impediments placed on offshore wind construction. This, in turn, would increase economic growth and energy independence and more closely align with the original intentions of U.S. Senator Wesley Jones.
There is support for reforming the Jones Act across the political spectrum, including the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute,[22] Democratic Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont in his State of the State Address,[23] and U.S. Senator Mike Lee, who introduced legislation that would fully repeal the bill.[24]
The current limitations imposed by the Jones Act are hindering the growth of the U.S. offshore wind industry, adding unnecessary costs, delays, and inefficiencies to crucial projects. A reasonable exemption for wind turbine installation vessels, similar to past amendments for other specialized vessels, would help overcome these obstacles, fostering economic growth and energy independence.
[1] Dylan, Bob, Blowin’ In The Wind (M. Whitmark & Sons, 1963).
[2] Billy Roberts, U.S. Wind Power Resource at 100-Meter Hub Height, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, (Jan. 9, 2023), https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/324
[3] Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project Construction and Operations Plan, U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, (2023).
[4] Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, Largest Offshore Wind Project in U.S. History Receives Full Federal Environmental Permitting Approval, (2024).
[5] Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, Data Centers in Virginia (2023).
[6] Directorate-General for Energy, EU wind energy, (2023).
[7] National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Offshore Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition (2024).
[8] U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, The Jones Act (2023).
[9] 46 U.S.C. § 55102.
[10] Wesley L. Jones, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York, 233, (Frederick A. Cleveland et al., Volume 9, 1922).
[11] American Clean Power Association, Offshore Wind and the Jones Act.
[12] John Frittelli, Cong. Rsch. Serv., IF12491, Vessel Construction for Offshore Wind Power Generation (2023).
[13] Id. at 1.
[14] Id.
[15] Ryan Murphy, A towering crane on a big ship has lit up the Norfolk and Portsmouth skylines. What is it?, WHRO, (May 3, 2024), https://www.whro.org/business-growth/2024-05-03/a-towering-crane-on-a-big-ship-has-lit-up-the-norfolk-and-portsmouth-skylines-what-is-it.
[16]Virginia Port Authority, Creation of the Mid-Atlantic’s Offshore Wind Logistics Hub Moves Forward at The Port of Virginia (2023).
[17] Telephone Interview with Emily Jones Huggins, Partner, Troutman Pepper Locke (Feb. 26, 2025).
[18] David Uberti & Joe Wallace, The Sea-Monster-Sized Ship Disrupting Biden’s Wind-Energy Dreams, Wall St. J. (Dec. 14, 2023, 6:06 AM), https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/the-sea-monster-sized-ship-disrupting-bidens-wind-energy-dreams-e007942e.
[19] Dominion Energy, Charybdis (last visited Feb. 27, 2025).
[20] Eric Haun, Cost of US-built WTIV Charybdis Balloons to $715 Million, Marine Link (Aug. 19, 2024), https://www.marinelink.com/news/cost-usbuilt-wtiv-charybdis-balloons-516103.
[21] Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-241,§ 320, 120 Stat. 529, 14.
[22] Colin Grabow, Recent Articles Highlight Jones Act Contributions to Offshore Wind Difficulties, Cato Institute (Jan. 2, 2024, 1:05 PM).
[23] Ned Lamont, Governor, Connecticut, Governor Lamont’s 2025 State of the State Address (Jan. 8, 2024).
[24] Press Release, Office of Senator Mike Lee, Lee, McClintock Introduce Bill to Repeal Jones Act (May 14. 2021).