Rep. Oberstar’s manipulatory tricks in his Delta Queen speech on the House of Representatives
Apr 27, 2008It’s a shame that the discussion about the future of the Delta Queen became a partisan issue last week in the House of Representatives. We’re trying to change this back to a non-partisan discussion by showing where Rep. Oberstar used manipulatory tricks to get almost all of his fellow Democrat representatives to vote with him without looking at the facts and without using their brains before they voted.

Rep. Oberstar’s speech text is in itallics, while our comments are in black.

Just get your own picture of the situation. I’m trying to only present the facts and hold back with my personal opinion.

Mr. Speaker, I enormously respect the distinguished and amiable gentleman from Ohio, the weight-lifting champ of the House gym. When he walks on the floor, the weights quiver and shake in awe of his appearance.

He has been an advocate for the Delta Queen even back to last fall when I was in the Bethesda Naval Hospital for an operation to correct a long-standing injury to my neck. He sent a sheet cake with the Delta Queen emblazoned upon it to remind me of his diligence and of his enthusiasm for the Delta Queen. I could only eat one slice of it, but I assured him that the staff at the hospital, who had no idea what the Delta Queen was all about, appreciated this sheet cake from the very distinguished and caring gentleman from the State of Ohio.

But labor has nothing to do with this issue. I haven’t heard from a single person in any labor union about this matter.

What Rep. Oberstar doesn’t explain is why he totally changed his mind since just last year when he voted in favor of the Delta Queen exemption. And he has never explained how it comes that Majestic America Line is claiming the Union issue being the only reason for his opposition (see: http://www.secinfo.com/d14D5a.u5dFm.8.htm, search on page for "Congressman Oberstar").

The Delta Queen was built in 1926 and carried 174 passengers, 88 state rooms. It has extensive wood superstructure. It has extensive wood interior and furniture, and for those reasons, the Coast Guard will not certify this vessel.

Simply not true. The Coast Guard has certified the Delta Queen numerous times in the past and just weeks ago. Citing a DQ crew member: "We passed our annual Coast Guard Inspection on Tuesday [= April 15, 2008] and received our new COI. The inspector was very impressed with the crew during the Fire and Abandon Ship drills."

Opposition is clear. The combustible construction of the vessel presents an unacceptable fire risk that cannot be mitigated by the addition of fire-suppression measures, says the Coast Guard. As such, the Coast Guard’s position remains unchanged. The Delta Queen should be prohibited from operating with overnight passengers. Since May 28, 1936, the United States has required that passenger vessels be constructed essentially of fire retardant material. In the interest of maritime safety, the Coast Guard, continuing their quote, has consistently opposed legislation to prolong the service of the Delta Queen. A vessel constructed of wood operating in the overnight passenger trade presents an unacceptable fire risk to its passengers and crew. It goes on at great length.
We’ve seen such a letter from a high-ranking Coast Guard officer, true. But nevertheless the Coast Guard has always issued certificates of inspection for the Delta Queen testifying her safety and compliance with the regulations while the Coast Guard could easily have refused the certificate in case the Delta Queen was not safe.

The Delta Queen can operate in daytime but not at night.

In the operation of the trade on the Mississippi River, the worst disaster in history occurred, fire onboard a paddle wheeler. Yes, in the 19th century, but 1,700 people died 100 yards from shore.

Mr. Oberstar obviously is referring to the Sultana disaster of 1865 (see details: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/sultana.htm). That fire was caused by a boiler explosion, something absolutely untinkable as of today. At that time due to a lack of safety standards steamboats had an average lifetime of 3-5 years and boiler explosions were relatively common. The Delta Queen now is 82 years old and never had any major incidents in her whole lifetime. The Sultana could carry 376 persons, including crew, about double than the Delta Queen today. But the ruthless captain of the Sultana overloaded the boat with the incredible number of more than 1,700 passengers, mainly Civil War soldiers on their way back home.
If it makes any sense to compare the Sultana with the Delta Queen, then we also have to compare the Titanic with modern cruise ships and stop (at least) all Alaska cruises immediately.

On March 22 of this year, of this year, the Delta Queen had a fire in the generating room requiring the use of their fixed C02 extinguishing system. Fortunately, no one was injured. The generator shorted, caused flames to shoot out the generator end.

Isn’t that just an example how safe the Delta Queen in fact is and how well her safety appliances are working? The fire detection and extinguishing systems acted exactly as designed and did their job flawlessly. By the way: According to our sources, the fire was caused by a generator overspeed, not a short. And the fire was contained to the generator space, which is basically a metal room within the boiler room. No wood even close to it.

Earlier this month, the Queen of the West, this April, a similar paddle wheel operated by the very same company that owns and operates the Delta Queen had a fire in the engine room, required evacuation of 177 passengers and crew. Three crew members were treated for smoke inhalation.

What does the Queen of the West have to do with the Delta Queen? She is an all-steel boat with a hydraulic-driven paddlewheel; no wooden superstructure, no steam.

Last year, in May, the Empress of the North, another excursion vessel operated by the same company owning the Delta Queen, ran aground in southeast Alaska, evacuating over 200 passengers and crew; fourth grounding of that vessel in less than 4 years.

Again, what does this have to do with the Delta Queen? And very important: The Queen of the West as well as the Empress of the North are of course Coast Guard certified vessels, the navigational crew of both boats of course are holding an appropriate license issued by the Coast Guard.

Now I can understand those who live along the Mississippi River, which starts nearly in my district all the way down to the Gulf, but friends, we would never stand for limiting safety on a 747 aircraft.
a) what does a 747 airplane have to do with a steamboat? b) nobody is talking about limiting the safety on the Delta Queen. The Delta Queen is safer than she’s ever been and absolutely up to modern standards and beyond.

And over a decade ago, a foreign airline was trying to remove over-wing exits from a 747.
Trying to remove over-wing exits in fact reduces safety on a 747. Renewing the Delta Queen’s exemption does not reduce safety but maintains the level of safety she had over the last at least 40 years since she is running under these exemptions from a law that was never made for riverboats but for sea-going passenger vessels. Remember: Great Lakes ships are exempt from this law by default; riverboats had just been forgotten about to exempt by default in that law.

Congressman Bill Clinger, Pennsylvania’s ranking Republican on the Committee on Aviation with me, we stopped them from doing that. We stopped the FAA from allowing that risk to safety. We should stop this risk to safety here. Fire at night is terrifying. Oppose the amendment.

(end of Rep. Oberstar’s speech)

all righty then.

I have had some very nice written responses to some of the calls that I made to various Congressmen. Basically here is what they said. The first bill that failed was due to a attempt by the minority party to kill a bill that was unappealing to their political views by attaching a motion to kill it to a motion to exempt the Delta Queen. This is why you will see such a wide disparity in votes cast from one party to another. The reason that the motion to recommit on HR2830 was due to political manuvering more than it was due to any great malice towards the Delta Queen on part of any Congressmen. Don't get too upset over this,(or do get upset, won't help any) this is how politics is done today. Want a bill to pass? Attach it to the "feed the starving Children" bill. Want to embarass the opposition? Put the issue they simply cannot vote for ever in that bill and then when they vote against it, trumpet how they want children to starve....happens ALL the time and it is BOTH parties doing it. Sometimes it is a wonder they ever get anything done that actually benefits the country. Or maybe it is better they can't get much done...

Anyway, there is another bill. HR 3852, which was intro'ed by Steve Chabot. Please call your Congressman today and politely ask them to support this bill which would exempt the Delta Queen for another ten years... Two of the Congressmen I contacted are sponsors of this bill. Unfortunately it is now in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I would suggest that everyone look over the members that serve on this committee and contact every one of them. It will take action on the part of this committee to get the bill moving...

************************************************** *************************************************

I researched a bit more and the bill has been relegated to a subcommittee.

No action had been taken on this at all, not good.

Here are the members of the subcommittee:

Elijah Cummings, D-MD: Steven LaTourette R-OH: Brian Baird D-W: Timothy Bishop D-NY: Corrine Brown D-FL: Howard Coble R-NC: Wayne Gilcrest R-MD: Brian Higgins D-NY: Rick Larsen D-WA: Frank LoBiondo R-NJ: John Mica R-FL: James Oberstar D-MN: Ted Poe R-TX: Laura Richardson D-CA: Gene Taylor D-MS: Donald Young R-AK

I did not have enough time to post all the necessary numbers to call.

I did not have enough time to post all the necessary numbers to call.

May 28, 2008

The Save the Delta Queen Campaign Team has pinpointed a potential ally in the Senate. There is a good chance that we can persuade Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania to introduce exemption legislation for the Delta Queen. It is crucial that he hears from as many people as possible — especially from people living in Pennsylvania.

Please, if you can, contact Senator Specter and ask him to do whatever he can to get an exemption (preferably a permanent one) for the Delta Queen through the Senate. And please ask everyone you know — especially anyone who lives in Pennsylvania — to do the same. Also ask them to ask more people to do the same. Here’s where you can reach Sen. Specter:

The Hon. Arlen Specter
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4254
Fax: (202) 228-1229
Email through his web site: http://specter.senate.gov/public/index. ... ontactForm

Within the next two weeks we’re also going to deliver a set of petitions and resolutions to Sen. Specter’s office at Capitol Hill. This will consist of petitions, resolutions, and Steamboats.org petition messages that we’ve collected since our first delivery to them on April 18. Anyone who has petitions or resolutions, please let us know so we can give you details about whom to send them to and when.

The fight goes on to convince our congress members to save something
uniquely American. Wonder what Mark Twain would have said. Anyway,
here is part of an email letter that was sent to me as editor of
Steamboating Magazine. Hope that it's OK to post it here - and just
because you live outside the USA doesn't mean you shouldn't write to
members of the US Congress.

----------------------------------------------------------

Dear Steamboating Magazine,

The campaign to save the Delta Queen is gaining more support every
day, thanks to your help.

1) There is great news from the US Senate: Senator George Voinovich
http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm (R-OH) has announced
that when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day, he will introduce
legislation to continue the Delta Queen's 40-year exemption from the
Safety of Life at Sea Act. The exact language of the bill and the
date of its introduction will be announced in late August or early
September.

2) Media coverage is increasing, many local newspapers along the
rivers are covering the issue frequently and we also had one
national station covering the Delta Queen story: On July 16, Fox
News Channel`s Special Report with Brit Hume covered the Delta Queen
extensively.

One of the local newspaper articles is especially worth mentioning:
Marietta Times, "The Ghost of Garmatz".
http://www.mariettaregister.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=474&Itemid=1

3) Our opponent in the US House of Representatives, blocking all
legislation in Favor of the Delta Queen, Rep. James Oberstar, is
being challenged in his home district by Michael Cummins.
http://www.cumminsforcongress.com/ This will increase the pressure
on Oberstar listening to his constituents or will hopefully result
in loosing his seat in the House to Michael Cummins, who is a vivid
supporter of the Delta Queen.

Call to Action

Well, no good newsletter comes without a call to action. Of course
we still need your support and hope you'll continue to send some e-
mails, faxes and make some phone calls to help saving the Delta
Queen.

Ask your Senators to contact Sen. Voinovich

If you would like to ask your Senators to support this bill, please
suggest that they have their Legislative Directors contact Lauri
Hettinger, who is Sen. Voinovich's Legislative Director. She, like
most Congressional staff members, will be at work in Washington
throughout most of the August recess.

You can find contact information for each of the US Senators on the
Internet:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_i ... rs_cfm.cfm

Again, thanks very much for your support. We're convinced together
we can save the Delta Queen.

"If you can dream it, you can do it." (Walt Disney)

Yours Sincerely,
Franz Neumeier
http://www.save-the-delta-queen.org

Dear Supporter
here comes a new initiative to save the Delta Queen, and we again are asking for your help. This time, a brief e-mail to the National Trust will do the job. We just need to demonstrate how many people from all around the country are supporting the Delta Queen.

Don Clare, a noted Kentucky preservationist and one of the Save the Delta Queen Campaign's most enthusiastic supporters, has nominated the boat for inclusion on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2009 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

If the Queen is chosen for one of the 11 slots, our cause will receive major coverage on the Trust's web site and in Preservation magazine. And as you all know, national publicity is what we need more than anything as we head into the new year and a new Congress. Because a number of big-name Democrats, including President-elect Barrack Obama, cosponsored Senator Voinovich's exemption bill in September, that could vote. Even if the Queen is not one of the 11 winners, the nomination gives us chance to generate media coverage.

Whether you are a member of the Trust or not, please contact them, by phone, fax, letter, or email to second Don's nomination. You don't need to go into detail. A simple "Please include the Delta Queen on your 2009 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" will do the job.

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Communications Office/11 Most Endangered
1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-588-6141
Fax: 202-588-6299

Email: 11Most@nthp.org

And here's where you can learn more about the 11 Most Endangered List: http://www.preservationnation.org/is...st-endangered/

! General Update
Besides this, we're continously working in the background on several initiatives to get the exemption for the Delta Queen. There is still some hope that President George Bush will issue a presidential pardon. Then, when the new Congress assembles, there will be a new bill in both the House and the Senate to get a new exemption law for the Delta Queen. And of course, we'll be addressing the new President, too. Stay tuned, we'll send an update as soon as there are any important news.

And what ever you'll hear about the Delta Queen in the media or through rumors in these days, don't give up hope. The fight for a new exemption from SOLAS is not over. Not at all!

For now, please let the National Trust know as soon as possible that you're supporting the Delta Queen.

Thanks very much for your help!

Yours Sincerely,
Franz Neumeier
http://www.save-the-delta-queen.org