Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) introduced legislation in the Senate last week to extend the historic paddlewheeler Delta Queen's exemption from a 1966 law banning passenger overnight vessels with wooden superstructures.
The law prohibits wooden vessels from carrying 50 or more people on overnight trips. Built in 1926, the Delta Queen has a steel hull and a wooden superstructure.
In August, Congress failed to pass legislation that would have granted the Delta Queen a seventh exemption. Without congressional action, the current 40-year exemption will expire Nov. 1.
Voinovich introduced bipartisan legislation, S. 3498, to continue Delta Queen's exemption, which would allow the vessel to continue operating overnight cruises until Nov. 1, 2018, according to the Save the Delta Queen Campaign.
The 174-passenger Delta Queen is scheduled to sail four final trips along the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers from Nashville to Pittsburgh and back; from Nashville to Cincinnati; and from Cincinnati to Memphis through the end of October.
As part of Majestic America Line, the Delta Queen is up for sale along with the American river and coastal cruising brand's six other ships. Parent company Ambassadors International put Majestic on the market in April.
Vicki Webster, who heads the Save the Delta Queen Campaign, has repeatedly expressed her organization's desire that whoever acquires the Delta Queen keeps the vessel operational, rather than transform it into a floating hotel or find some other use for it.
"We are confident that members of Congress will respond to the wishes of their constituents and vote to keep the Queen alive and plying the rivers for generations to come," Webster said in a statement.