ENVIRONMENT — CONSERVATIVES CLAIM THAT ‘JONES ACT’ IS HINDERING OIL SPILL CLEANUP IS ‘URBAN MYTH:’ In an effort to paint the Obama administration as failing in its response to the BP oil spill, Republicans continue to push the claim that the government is not accepting aid from foreign countries. The latest talking point alleges that the Jones Act — a longstanding law that “requires all trade delivered between U.S. ports to be carried in U.S. flagged vessels constructed in the United States and owned by American citizens” — is impeding the Gulf clean up effort by blocking foreign aid. Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey said, “It’s a little shocking to me that a president that has such a multinational orientation as this president didn’t immediately see the benefits of waiving the Jones Act and allowing all of these resources to come in.” Some GOP lawmakers have seized on the point and introduced legislation to repeal the law to, according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), “cut through the red tape and get all available assets on scene as quickly as possible.” However, McClatchy reported this week that the Republicans’ claim is completely baseless: “Maritime law experts, government officials and independent researchers say that the claim is false. The Jones Act isn’t an impediment at all, they say, and it hasn’t blocked anything. ‘Totally not true,’ said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Maritime Cabotage Task Force, a coalition of U.S. shipbuilders, operators and labor unions. ‘It is simply an urban myth that the Jones Act is the problem.'” In fact, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is running the cleanup effort, said he’d received “no requests for Jones Act waivers” from foreign vessels or countries, and according to the State Department, there are “24 foreign vessels operating in the region and nine countries [have] provided boom, skimmers and other assistance.” And more help is on the way — the U.S. has just accepted offers of assistance from 12 countries. FactCheck.org sums it up, writing, “the Jones Act has yet to be an issue in the response efforts. … Reports claiming that the federal government has refused help are not only incorrect — foreign assistance has been utilized — but are also misleading.”