Tiny Fleet Converges on Puerto Rico With Lifeblood Diesel
- Vessels face ports and roads in shambles as power blinks out
- Critics call for loosening 1920 shipping rules; Trump resists
Federal Help Pouring Into Puerto Rico After Maria
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As Puerto Rico lies prostrate and powerless, 11 tankers are bound for the island, bringing fuel crucial to the emergency generators that provide power to hospitals and water-purification plants.
But between the ships and the thirsty generators are battered ports, ravaged infrastructure and a 1920 law called the Jones Act, which restricts which ships can deliver goods and drives up costs. Merely assessing damage to the electric grid will take days, and then the island still must formally request repair crews, said the chief executive of the New York Power Authority, which is a mainstay of that relief effort.