Potential expansion by US Congress of the century-old Jones Act to require that construction at sea be done using US-flagged installation vessels would have a “significant and immediate chilling effect” on the nation’s emerging offshore wind industry, according to industry trade group the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

In several letters to lawmakers and in a blog post on its website, AWEA said that the provision – which adds to the current requirement that any goods shipped between American ports use US-flagged and -crewed vessels – could potentially put in jeopardy more than 14GW of offshore wind projects over the next five years and the thousands of jobs dependent on that expansion.