I am wondering if there was not a union issue involved.
When the Delta Queen employed a union crew getting the waiver
was never a problem. If my fading memory is correct, a new company purchased the Queen and took the crew non-union.
At that point all kinds of safety issues were raised and the waiver was pulled.
He claimed no labor union influence in his committee testimony, but Jim Oberstar did suddenly change his tune, and a lot of people - including some of his supporters - believed he did so due to union pressure; that he did an abrupt about face is irrefutable, as is the fatuous theatricality of comparing the DQ's potential flammability to the boiler explosion on the
Sultana in 1865.
Mr. niteowl77