4 FOGHORN From Ask to Action REPRESENTING PVA AT A CONGRESSIONAL ROUNDTABLE ON MARITIME SAFETY O n July 21, I sat behind a nameplate that read “Andrew Sargis, Passenger Vessel Association” in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Build- ing. Chairman Mike Ezell had called the House Transpor- tation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation into session for a roundtable titled “Intersecting Courses: Maritime Safety Regulation and Technology.” I was there to speak for 600 PVA members and the roughly 200 million passengers we carry every year, and to make sure the peo- ple writing U.S. Coast Guard policy heard di- rectly from the operators who live with the results of that policy every day. In addition to represent- ing PVA, I also found myself the only actual operator and business- man at the table which was otherwise filled with politicians or trade orga- nization directors. This was not a hearing that landed on the calen- dar by accident. In April, nearly 40 PVA members walked the halls of Con- gress for our annual fly-in, and into every single meeting we carried the same ask: hold a hearing or roundtable on how the Coast Guard’s mission realignment under Force Design 2028 is affecting the marine safety mission. We had a precedent in mind. In 2007, Congressman James Ober- star held a similar oversight hearing after industry raised the alarm that experienced safety inspectors were being pulled into other missions, and that hearing reshaped how the Coast Guard staffs and prioritizes marine safety to this day. Three months after our fly-in, the subcommittee scheduled this roundtable. Watching an ask that we made as an association turn into an actual roundtable, with an actual witness table, and PVA’s name on it, is not some- thing we take for granted. My opening statement covered four asks. Keep the Coast Guard’s marine safety mission fully resourced even as Force Design 2028 pulls attention and billets toward the border and military readi- ness. Protect the National Maritime Center from shutting down every time Congress cannot pass a budget on time. Get a real assessment of aids to navigation on the Western Rivers, where five aging buoy tenders cover rough- ly 2,200 navigable river miles across eleven states. And give the Coast Guard the enforcement teeth it needs against deadly ille- gal charter operators. That last one is personal to me. I run boats on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, and illegal op- erators have endangered our waterways for years. When Congresswoman Hillary Scholten, whose district includes Grand Haven, asked the panel how search and rescue clo- sures were hitting our industry, I did not need to check my notes. I told her our Great Lakes members are already lean- ing on social media groups of good Samaritans and local police to fill gaps the Coast Guard used to cover. I told her the illegal charter problem gets worse every time enforce- ment disappears, because the bad guys get bolder. That is ANDREW SARGIS // PRESIDENT AT THE HELM LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Continued on page 66 Into every single meeting we carried the same ask: hold a hearing or roundtable on how the Coast Guard’s mission realignment under Force Design 2028 is affecting the marine safety mission.
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