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Feb. 9, 2006 — Senate President Lorraine L. Berry is currently petitioning the United States Government to exempt the Virgin Islands from Federal requirements to report inter-island passenger information to the U.S. Coast Guard, as passed in Resolution No. 1690 by the 26th Legislature late last year.
In a letter to every member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, Berry contends this reporting requirement is extremely onerous with a devastating impact on the Territory's economy.
In pointing out that, the Virgin Islands is a tourism-driven economy – its' mainstay the cruise ship and subsequent charter boat industry – Berry contends that by having to submit their passenger information to the Coast Guard; on even for small 6-passenger vessels departing from the Territory to the British Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands will lose millions of dollars.
Berry further contends that "the inclusion of this regulation in the recently-adopted Homeland Security measure was apparently made without the full knowledge of its impact on our small charter boat industry."
Explained Berry, "it's just one of those instances where the federal government did not fully assess how such a broadly-based initiative would impact on a small industry. In effect, it used a Cadillac-sized boulder to plug a small hole."
