The Delta Queen steamboat once again could carry passengers on the Ohio River during overnight boat trips.

She was taken off the river because the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea treaty or SOLAS, prohibits wooden ships from carrying passengers on overnight trips due to fire dangers.  Delta Queen received exemptions from the treaty, enshrined in law from 1970 to 2007.  When Congress failed to pass another exemption in 2007, Delta Queen ceased her river runs at the end of the 2008 cruising season.

Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman recently introduced a bill to Congress changing safety regulations and granting the Queen a 15-year exception to SOLAS.  They seek to allow an owner to not only revamp the ship but help to revive cities it stops in along the Ohio River.

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