Trump Re-Ups Jones Act Waiver, Putting New Hampshire Democrats On Defense Over Energy Costs

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

President Donald Trump extended a waiver of the Jones Act for another 90 days on Monday, a policy move that will help keep more lower-cost energy moving from the South to New England.

The question is: Do New Hampshire Democrats support that policy, too?

The Jones Act is a 1920s-era law requiring cargo moved between two U.S. points to travel on a vessel that is U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and authorized for coastwise trade. The result is a counterintuitive split: A foreign tanker can carry LNG from Trinidad to Boston, but a tanker moving LNG from Louisiana to Boston can’t make the trip.

Given that no such tankers currently exist, the law — which is supported by Big Labor — keeps domestic fuel largely out of New England ports.

Trump waived the Jones Act when energy prices spiked after the war with Iran began.

The new waiver takes effect Aug. 17, when the current suspension is scheduled to expire. Unlike the broad waiver Trump first issued March 17, the extension isn’t as broad in scope. While it still allows shipments of fuel and food, proposed voyages will receive case-by-case review by the Pentagon in consultation with the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The waiver can increase shipping capacity and reduce transportation bottlenecks for petroleum products in the region. It does not, however, expand New England’s constrained natural gas pipelines, create additional regional gas storage or guarantee that a tanker of domestic liquefied natural gas will sail from the Gulf Coast to Boston.

Still, the numbers don’t lie. Under the original waiver, an estimated 50 million barrels of oil and natural gas had been shipped between U.S. ports as of early August. That includes approximately 607 million gallons of gasoline.

The Jones Act came up at a recent energy policy roundtable in Manchester hosted by Americans for Prosperity. State Rep. J.C. Bernardy (R-South Hampton) argued that the Jones Act leaves New England buying foreign LNG even as the United States exports enormous quantities of gas from the Gulf Coast.

“The Jones Act prevents us from getting domestic gas from the Gulf ports up here,” Bernardy said. “So we end up buying our gas, liquefied natural gas, on the international market. It is typically five times the price of domestic natural gas. That’s driving our electric rates. That’s the core problem.”

John E. Sununu, who is running for the GOP’s U.S. Senate nomination, told NHJournal he supports scrapping the policy altogether. He also blames Democrats for “preventing gas pipelines coming from New York and through Massachusetts that would bring safe, clean, cheap natural gas to New Hampshire.”

And where does Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Chris Pappas stand on the Jones Act?

During a 2021 House subcommittee hearing, Pappas highlighted the “essential nature of the Jones Act in protecting our national security and ensuring that the industry is strong moving forward.”

A year later, during a winter fuel crunch that sent natural gas prices soaring, Pappas sang a different tune. Asked about the Jones Act, Pappas told WFEA radio, “There’s no reason why, if we’ve got the resources here in our own country, we shouldn’t be using that to fuel our homes and businesses this winter. In an emergency situation like we’re facing with home heating oil, absolutely we should have a waiver to make sure that the supplies are there for us.”

Pappas’ apparent flip-flop on the Jones Act brought a swift reaction from labor organizations at the time, particularly those representing workers in the maritime industries.

The Seafarers International Union, the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, American Maritime Officers and the International Organization of Masters, Mates, and Pilots have all publicly opposed waivers. In a statement on its website, the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO, stated bluntly: “Since its founding in 1946, the MTD has stood by and fought for the Jones Act.”

What is Pappas’ position today? He declined Monday to respond to questions from NHJournal about the Jones Act.

In fact, none of the New Hampshire Democrats running for federal office in 2026 responded to questions on the topic, a sign of the paradox it presents to candidates on the left: They have made affordability a top issue, but they don’t want to cross organized labor, which supports the ban on foreign ships operating between U.S. ports.

Another Democrat who declined to answer was gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington. She has made opposition to fossil fuels and support for green energy campaign priorities. Supporting the Jones Act would allow her to both appease labor unions and restrict the flow of natural gas and other fuels to New Hampshire.

However, it would also add upward pressure on prices for consumers who rely on those fuels.

“About 37 percent of the state heats their home with home heating oil or kerosene, another 23 percent natural gas, and about 20 percent is propane,” Bernardy told the energy roundtable.

Without the Jones Act, and with pipeline supplies restricted, where does New England get its gas?

“We get it largely from Trinidad and Tobago, which is taking Venezuelan gas, bringing that in,” Bernardy said. “Or we’ve gotten it from Iran, and we’ve gotten it from Russia, and we’ve got it from Qatar.”

Will Granite State Democrats support the status quo of tight supplies and foreign fuel, or will they join the effort to repeal the Jones Act?

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.