Delta QueenFire up the calliope.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 280-89 Wednesday in favor of exempting the Delta Queen from the 1966 Safety of Life at Seas Act, which puts the historic boat one mark closer to plying the rivers again.
“Needless to say, we’re thrilled,” said Cornel Martin, president and CEO of DQSC Inc., who attended Wednesday’s House debate with current Delta Queen operators Leah Ann and Randy Ingram. They are hoping to return the boat to service as a floating hotel.
Wednesday afternoon, Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, and a host of Queen backers faced down opposition on the House floor.
Chabot remembers the Delta Queen from when its home port was his boyhood home of Cincinnati. He said it never should have been caught in the Safety of Life at Seas Act. The act bars any vessel constructed primarily of flammable material from carrying 50 or more passengers overnight on domestic U.S. waters.