U.S. Rep. Ed Case has favored Hawaii receiving a waiver from the Jones Act, a federal mandate that cargo ships connecting U.S. ports be American-flagged vessels. He may have found a strong argument for that in one instance: the movement of ships between Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and Kalaeloa to carry out the defueling of the controversial Red Hill underground tank facility.

Driving this argument is that there may not be the appropriate ships available to accomplish the task — which everyone wants done ASAP.