The hearing for the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security Subcommittee "The State of the U.S. Maritime Industry: The Federal Role" was held this afternoon in Washington.
Our efforts to write letters to the Senators on the committee were successful in that we were able to put this issue in front of their staffs. While the specific STORIS Act legislation did not come up for discussion in the hearing, Mr. Mitch Behm, Assistant Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation, referred specifically to the problematic disposition of STORIS by the Coast Guard and MARAD in the hearing during his testimony. Though the ship was not identified specifically by name, there is no other ship that he could have been discussing under these circumstances.
The whole hearing is here: https://t.co/bqze2YEg1b
Mr. Behm's prepared remarks are here:
http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/7b4ef61e-e55e-4616-97a0-eb6f26fd59f3/A3B409D8C4F9664CE6692260A6950A83.mitchell-behm-testimony.pdf
STORIS is referred to on page 6.
We will continue to reach out to the various members of Congress who can act on this matter so that we can get this legislation passed in STORIS' name. I will keep everyone updated as this continues to move forward.
And special thanks to those who helped put together letters for this specific hearing on short notice. You did make a difference as without our input, STORIS would not have been mentioned in the DOT IG report.
The story of the nationally historic US Coast Guard Cutter STORIS (WMEC-38), her legendary career and how the US Government sold her for scrap rather than promote her preservation as a living history museum ship and training vessel.
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