President Obama’s onslaught of 11th hour rules and regulations to stifle oil and gas will be vulnerable to a motivated Congress’ retribution and incoming Trump Administration, experts say. Despite presiding Continue Reading
The Obama administration signed its final plan for renewable fuel use in the United States last week, leaving an oil industry reeling from the most aggressive biofuel targets yet as Continue Reading
House members move to hold offshore oil and gas auctions on the Internet. Photo by tartaruga1988/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) — Bipartisan leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives returned Continue Reading
Legal force may be needed to compel state attorneys general and environmental groups to clarify their climate charges against Exxon Mobil, a House leader said. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the Continue Reading
Republican leaders in the U.S. House said a White House proposal to impose a $10-per-barrel tax on U.S. oil stands no chance of gaining legislative traction. President Barack Obama proposed Continue Reading
Legislation that could undermine the international nuclear deal with Iran clears a U.S. congressional panel, setting up a potential showdown over one of President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy initiatives. Continue Reading
Congress abolished the 40-year ban on oil exports this past week, a victory for oil companies and conservatives that few thought conceivable until recently. One thing made it possible: supporters Continue Reading
Congress abolished the 40-year ban on oil exports this past week, a victory for oil companies and conservatives that few thought conceivable until recently. One thing made it possible: supporters Continue Reading
In a move considered unthinkable even a few months ago, congressional leaders have agreed to lift the nation’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports, a historic action that reflects political and Continue Reading
Lifting a ban on U.S. crude oil exports could help address security issues for allies overseas more exposed to regional crises, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. The Senate Energy Committee Continue Reading
As diplomats in Paris try to secure an international agreement to rein in carbon pollution from fossil fuels, lawmakers in Washington are pushing a tax break for oil refiners as Continue Reading
Two recently enacted laws authorize significant sales of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next decade. The Bipartisan Budget Act authorizes the sale of 58 million Continue Reading
Efforts to reverse a 40-year-old ban on domestic crude oil exports through legislative action are not welcome, a White House spokesman said. Congressional leaders are working to pass a massive Continue Reading
A U.S. House leader said a bill passed in favor of oil exports rejects a global landscape favoring North America, but support wasn’t enough to override a veto. By a Continue Reading
The U.S. transportation bill will be partially funded by selling off some of the U.S. emergency oil reserve, but less will be sold than originally planned after negotiators in the Continue Reading
The Republican-controlled House Tuesday approved a pair of measures blocking federal rules to cut power-plant emissions , a symbolic move aimed at sowing doubt about President Barack Obama’s climate agenda Continue Reading
The Republican presidential race will cast a shadow over this week’s UN climate talks as President Barack Obama pledges to take action in Paris that his would-be successors have vowed Continue Reading
A top House lawmaker’s confrontation with government researchers over a groundbreaking climate change study is provoking a national backlash from scientists, who say his campaign represents the most serious threat Congress has posed to scientific freedom. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, has subpoenaed scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and demanded that they turn over internal e-mails related to their research. Their findings contradicted earlier work showing that global warming had paused, and Smith, a climate change skeptic, has accused them of altering global temperature data and rushing to publish their research in the June issue of the journal Science. [ NOAA chief tells lawmaker: No one will ‘coerce the scientists who work for me’ ] So far, NOAA officials have resisted Smith’s demands, and the showdown has escalated. The lawmaker has threatened to subpoena Commerce Secretary Penny […]
Legislators opposing new Environmental Protection Agency efforts to mitigate climate change have received large sums of cash from the coal industry, according to an analysis released Thursday by Maplight , an independent research group that tracks the influence of money in politics. Maplight’s analysis compared coal industry donations to two groups of senators: those who recently voted to block new EPA regulations designed to limit greenhouse gas and carbon emissions, and those who voted to leave the rules intact. The group of senators who opposed the EPA rules “received, on average, 17 times as much money ($75,802) from the coal mining industry compared to senators voting against them ($4,464)” over the six year period beginning in April 2009 and ending in March of this year, Maplight said in a statement. EPA rules mandate that states cut power-plant emissions by 32 percent , compared to 2005 levels, by the year […]
The U.S. Capitol behind the natural gas and coal fueled Capitol Power Plant. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News) Scientists and top officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have agreed to start interviews akin to depositions this week with House investigators, who are demanding to know their internal deliberations on a groundbreaking climate change study. But the interviews may not be enough to placate the chairman of the House science committee, a global warming skeptic who last week stepped up the pressure on the Commerce Department to comply with his subpoena for e-mails that NOAA has refused to turn over. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) wants thousands of e-mails among scientists and NOAA’s staff of political appointees that he thinks will show that the researchers had something to hide when they refuted claims that global warming had “paused” or slowed over the past decade. [ Congress demands climate change documents as […]
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., says he’ll try to work language into a highway funding bill that would lift a ban on crude oil exports. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI BISMARCK, N.D., Nov. 13 (UPI) — A Republican senator from North Dakota said he was working to insert language in a highway-funding bill that would lift a ban on U.S. crude oil exports. U.S. Sen. John Hoeven , R-N.D., told oil industry leaders gathered in Williston, a city at the heart of the state’s shale oil boom, that lifting a 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports would help support the state’s industry workers . "That’s why I am working to include legislation lifting the ban in the new highway bill that Congress is on track to pass," he said in a statement. Washington enacted a ban on domestic crude oil exports after Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum […]
Implementation of the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has created problems that require congressional attention 10 years after the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPACT) established it, witnesses generally told a Continue Reading
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a supporter of repealing a U.S. oil export ban, asks Commerce Department if any oil swaps have taken place with Mexico. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski , an advocate for repealing a 40-year-old ban on oil exports, said she wants to know why no oil is getting to Mexico under a swap deal. The U.S. Commerce Department in August granted a request from Mexican energy company Petroleos Mexicanos, known also as Pemex, to swap as much as 100,000 barrels of U.S. crude oil per day for refining. Legislation enacted in response to an oil embargo enforced in the 1970s by Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forbids the export of crude oil. The Commerce Department agreement requires Mexico to refine the crude oil at home and forbids re-export to other nations. Similar agreements are […]
A service truck drives past an oil well on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, November 1, 2014. A House of Representatives bill is due to go to the floor this week, one step closer to lifting the 40-year-old ban on the export of U.S. crude oil. The window of opportunity was opened by the continuing plunge in oil prices, now at a six-year low, as falling demand and booming production have created an overabundance of global supply. Congress must seize this opportunity: Lifting the ban on crude oil export would not only be good for the economy, it could also benefit U.S. foreign policy. U.S. firms have been unable to export crude oil since 1974 — a legacy of the energy security fears in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. The only exceptions are crude oil exports to Canada, and oil produced in Alaska. There […]
Effort to repeal ban on U.S. crude oil exports akin to a presidential campaign, the New York Times reports. File photo by tcly/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) — The push to ease the ban on U.S. crude oil exports is a well-funded effort akin to a presidential campaign in terms of its political machinery, a report finds. Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have moved various pieces of legislation meant to end the ban placed on U.S. crude oil exports after Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1970s blocked their exports to the United States in response to Washington’s support for Israel. A report published in The New York Times finds the effort is a well-funded initiative supported in part by major Washington think thanks, like the American Enterprise Institute. The Brookings Institution , the report finds, was backed with more than […]
Both the House and Senate are considering measures that would lift a ban on the export of U.S. crude oil that has been in place since 1975, the height of the Arab oil embargo. Ending the 40-year prohibition may seem counter-intuitive in an era of global supply glut and collapsing prices. For oil producers and lawmakers from oil-producing states, repeal is seen as a way to find new markets for American energy and bring back jobs to districts that have been hard-hit by the excess supply. While many Republicans, including presidential candidate Jeb Bush, have come out in favor of the idea, most Democrats, including President Barack Obama, are lukewarm, if not opposed. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said last month that she worried about the potential harm to the environment of lifting the ban, and would only support a measure if it’s accompanied by concessions. These could include renewable […]
Photo Jack Gerard, left, the president and chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, with Senator John Hoeven, Republican of North Dakota, after a Crude Oil Export forum in September. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times After watching the price of oil and the size of their profits plunge, a dozen top executives from some of the nation’s largest oil exploration companies flew to Washington late last winter on an urgent mission: push Congress and the White House to allow unlimited exports of American crude oil. Now, their long-shot lobbying effort to repeal the 40-year-old export ban has gathered considerable momentum. Approval by the House is expected in the coming weeks and two Senate committees have already endorsed the idea. The White House and Senate Democrats may still move to block it, but the fact that the legislation is even moving ahead in an era of extreme gridlock affirms […]
Sponsors of US Senate and House bills to repeal the 40-year-old ban on exports of US-produced crude oil expect their measures to move ahead soon. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), said the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee planned to mark up her bill, S. 1372 , on Oct. 1. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), meanwhile, said his measure, HR 702 , could reach the House floor the following week. Congress could complete work on a final bill and send it to the White House by yearend, both federal lawmakers told a Sept. 30 Trans-Atlantic Energy Security Forum hosted by LNG Allies. “Stay tuned. I think this issue is moving,” Heitkamp said. She noted that she remains the main Democratic cosponsor and a strong supporter of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alas.) bill, S. 2011 , which also aims to repeal the crude export ban. But Heitkamp […]
House Democrats said a measure to repeal decades-old U.S. restrictions on crude oil exports needs more environmental and consumer protections to win their backing. The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the measure by a 31-19 vote Thursday, sending the legislation to the full House of Representatives. Three Democrats joined 28 Republicans voting in favor. A floor vote could come as soon as the end of the month. The bill cleared the committee with one amendment, which would allow the U.S. president to reimpose export restrictions during a national emergency. “I frankly don’t see what’s in this for the average American,” Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the panel’s Democratic leader, said before the vote. The bill “is a blunt object which broadly undermines 40 years of protections for national security, our economy, consumers and the environment.” U.S. exports of most crude oil were banned by Congress in […]
The US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved a bill to lift all restrictions on US crude oil exports by a 31-19 vote. While it could be voted on by the full House later this month, the bill’s path in the Senate remains unclear and it faces opposition from the White House, limiting the likelihood that an export policy change could become law before President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017. On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the administration "wouldn’t support" the crude export bill because such a policy change should be made by the Department of Commerce. A Commerce spokesman said Wednesday that the agency was not working to change current export policy, which restricts US crude exports with some exceptions. The bill Thursday, H.R. 702, was approved by all committee Republicans, but just three Democrats: Representatives Gene Green of Texas, Tony Cardenas of […]
President Barack Obama opposes a measure poised to advance in the House of Representatives this week that would end the four-decade U.S. ban on oil exports. “We wouldn’t support legislation like the one that’s been put forward by Republicans,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday at a briefing. While House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is pushing for a vote this month, Earnest criticized him for trying to “cozy up to oil interests” by making his announcement to an industry group in Houston. Instead of pushing oil exports, Earnest said McCarthy should advocate ending tax breaks for oil drillers and use the cash to invest in solar and wind energy. Oil companies including Continental Resources Inc. and ConocoPhillips have spent much of the past two years urging Congress to change the export policy. They have relied on a series of economic analyses concluding that ending the restrictions won’t mean […]
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said U.S. crude oil export policies should match what some describe as the era of abundance. File photo by Brian Kersey/UPI WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) — As the full House Energy and Commerce Committee considers lifting a ban on U.S. crude oil exports, a congressman said it’s time policies match the shale era. By a voice vote last week , the Republican-led House Subcommittee on Energy and Power advanced legislation that would lift the ban on crude oil exports. The full House Energy and Commerce Committee considers the measure late Wednesday afternoon. "It is time for our energy policies to catch up to our new era of abundance," Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement. Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield , R-Ky., issued a joint statement last week, saying the "benefits of lifting the ban are many," from domestic economic stimulus to […]
WASHINGTON—House Republicans plan to vote on a bill in the coming weeks to lift the nation’s four-decade ban on oil exports, setting up a clash with the Obama administration later this year over what to do with oil from a boom in domestic production in the past decade. The vote would please more than a dozen oil companies lobbying Congress, and if successful, it could rattle global oil markets facing volatility and lower prices. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) announced the vote, which is being scheduled for the last week of September, at a Tuesday speech before the Houston-area Chamber of Commerce. While the legislation is likely to pass the GOP-controlled House, its prospects in the Senate are less clear, and the White House said it opposes it. “If there was ever a time to lift the oil export ban, it’s now,” Mr. McCarthy said in Houston. […]
They say that the first casualty of war is truth. And, on both sides of the fight over lifting the ban on exports of U.S. crude oil, the truth has already fallen into a coma. The ban was instituted in 1975 in order to make America less subject to swings in international oil supply after suffering the price shock associated with the Arab oil embargo in 1973 . Last week a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end the ban after a Senate committee voted in July to do the same . A vote by the full House and Senate could be near. The proponents are careful NOT to say that the United States is energy-independent and so has oil to spare. Such claims made in the past backfired because it is too easy to look this up. Net U.S. imports of crude oil were almost […]
A US House of Representatives subcommittee passes a bill to repeal the US ban on oil exports, providing momentum in the chamber for overturning the 40-year old trade restriction. WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (Reuters) – A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee passed a bill on Thursday to repeal the U.S. ban on oil exports, providing momentum in the chamber for overturning the 40-year old trade restriction. The House Energy and Power subcommittee passed the bill by a voice count. The legislation, sponsored by Republican Representative Joe Barton of Texas, is expected to be voted on by the full Energy and Commerce committee next week. Passage by the full panel would set it up for a wider vote by the Republican-led House, where it is expected to pass. The measure, however, still faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate. Barton said the energy landscape has changed since 1975 and repealing […]
Contain Iran with a decision to lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports, supporters say. Photo by Ali Mohammadi/UPI WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) — With Iran expecting to return to the global energy market, U.S. allies need a reliable source of crude oil in the way of exports, a production supporter said. The House Foreign Affairs Committee scheduled hearings Wednesday on the implications of a nuclear agreement reached in July between Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany. Supporters of the agreement, which gives Iran widespread sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear assurances, describe it as a victory for diplomacy. Opponents worry about potential national security concerns for the United States and its allies in Israel. George Baker, executive director of the Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, said lifting a 1970s ban on domestic crude oil exports would send a de facto […]
A US House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is expected Thursday to approve a bill to lift all limits on US crude exports. The House energy and power subcommittee is scheduled to vote on a bill from Texas Representative Joe Barton, a Republican, to repeal these limits, which have been in place for roughly four decades. In a joint statement, Michigan Representative Fred Upton, a Republican and the full committee’s chairman, and Kentucky Representative Ed Whitfield, a Republican and the subcommittee’s chairman, said current limits on US crude exports have become "obsolete." "We have taken a thoughtful approach to reconsidering oil exports, and the time to lift the ban is now," Upton and Whitfield said. The subcommittee vote, which will be the first of its kind in the House, is expected to set up a potential full House vote as early as this month. There are enough votes in the […]
WASHINGTON—Lawmakers set to begin a bruising foreign policy fight over the Iran nuclear accord this week are likely to hand President Barack Obama a narrow and partisan victory, but one that saddles Democratic supporters with uncertain political consequences. Both chambers return to Washington on Tuesday after Congress’ annual summer recess, kicking off a fractious fall that will feature acrimonious debate and a possible veto fight over the nuclear agreement. The issue also will set the tone for showdowns later this year over government spending. A stream of Democratic endorsements dribbling out over recent weeks has all but guaranteed the White House will be able to implement the deal before Mr. Obama leaves office in less than two years. The agreement, reached in Vienna on July 14, imposes strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear program that will start to be eased after 10 years. In exchange, the U.S., the European Union […]
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) pledges to lift 1970s ban on U.S. crude oil exports if elected president. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 3 (UPI) — Lifting a ban on U.S. crude oil exports will bring "immediate" economic stimulus to the economy, Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio said. Sen. Rubio, R-Fla., addressed supporters in Oklahoma, saying one of the first things he’d do if elected president would be to lift the 1970s era ban on exports of domestic crude oil. "President Nixon signed it into law in the 1970s — long before the economy had been fundamentally transformed by globalization and technological innovations, long before the hydraulic-fracturing and shale revolutions had launched a new era of American energy," he said. "Lifting the crude-oil export ban will be an immediate boon to our economy." The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the interests of the oil and […]
Legislation to repeal a 40-year ban on most domestic oil exports will probably become law in the first quarter of next year, according to analysts at Evercore ISI. A move to end the ban would probably include a condition that allows the administration of President Barack Obama to set export levels, Evercore analyst Terry Haines said in a research note Friday. While there is some congressional support to lifting the ban, some analysts said its unlikely to happen before the 2016 elections. “Obama and his regulators are likely to have a more positive view of an oil export ban repeal that empowered regulators generally to decide oil export levels,” Haines said in the note. “That sort of repeal also would be attractive to congressional Republicans and Democrats that would see it as a compromise alternative that overturns the ban and is a significant step on the road to full […]
Leaders in the US House of Representatives are demanding answers from BP PLC regarding the early August unplanned and still ongoing shutdown of a major processing unit at its 413,000-b/d refinery in Whiting, Ind. Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and Fred Upton (R-Ind.) have sent a letter to BP Chief Executive Robert Dudley asking for information pertaining to the sudden closing of the refinery unit on Aug. 8, which has caused a sharp spike in gas prices throughout the upper Midwest, Walorski and Upton said in a joint release. “Some areas of the Midwest have seen prices rise over $1/gal over a 24-hr period, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable of our constituents and resulting in large unpredicted costs in getting goods to market across the region,” the House members wrote. In addition to noting the immediate hardship posed to constituents in their districts as a result of rising prices at […]
Photo President Obama played golf last week in Martha’s Vineyard, but he has also been calling members of Congress, an official said. Credit Steven Senne/Associated Press WASHINGTON — From his rented vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, President Obama has been making phone calls to Democratic members of Congress, trying to rally support for the nuclear deal with Iran that faces a vote next month. “If you support the deal, we’d like you to make that clear,” he tells the lawmakers, according to a White House official who would describe the private calls only on condition of anonymity. “And if you still have concerns, we want to be able to answer those questions.” The personal appeals from the president are part of an orchestrated lobbying effort by the White House, supported by a coalition of antiwar and progressive organizations, aimed at persuading Democrats […]
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., says crude oil is the only North Dakota commodity banned for exports. The Commerce Department last week clears oil swaps with Mexico, which supporters say is a step to easing that ban. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) — A decision to swap crude oil with Mexico is a much needed step toward a full easing of the ban on domestic oil exports, U.S. production groups said. The U.S. Commerce Department last week granted a request from Mexican energy company Petroleos Mexicanos, known also as Pemex, to swap as much as 100,000 barrels of U.S. crude oil per day for refining into the nation. The deal requires Mexico to refine the crude oil at home and forbids re-export to other nations. Swaps are permissible under current legislation. Barrel Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said the […]
Big voices in the oil industry and Congress now support a move that would have been unthinkable not long ago: opening the U.S. oil industry to exports. The U.S. has long pushed for liberalized trade, with U.S.-produced crude being the biggest exception since the shock of the 1973 Arab oil embargo led Congress to ban oil exports under nearly all circumstances. The only other U.S. products banned under the same regulations are a type of tree found in Western North Americacalled Western red cedar and live horses for slaughter shipped by sea. The House now looks likely to vote as early as September to lift the oil-export ban, with Senate action anticipated early next year, which would mark a milestone few saw coming. But while freely exporting U.S. oil may come as a shock to some Americans, it probably won’t cause much of an economic stir, especially with global […]
An oil field is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. The U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Thursday narrowly passed a bill to lift a 40-year old ban on the export of crude oil, but the measure faces an uphill battle in getting passed by the full Senate. The bill to allow the United States to export oil and boost state revenue-sharing for offshore oil and gas drilling passed along party lines by a vote of 12-10. It was the second significant step in two days for advocates of lifting the ban: Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced his support on Wednesday for repealing the law. But Congressional Democrats remain reluctant to reverse the ban, citing, among other things, a fear it would lead to higher gas prices. Democratic support is seen as crucial to getting President Barack Obama to sign any legislation permitting crude exports. Senate […]
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks at his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington July 9, 2015. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner told reporters on Wednesday he supports lifting a 40 year-old ban on crude oil exports, a move that could boost support for legislation in his chamber. Boehner said the ban was created during a time when oil markets were much different than they are now and that lifting the trade restriction could create 1 million jobs. A bill introduced by Representative Joe Barton this year has more than 100 co-sponsors. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner ; Editing by Lisa Lambert )
A leading congressional supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline predicted President Barack Obama will reject the project when Congress is set to be out of town in August. Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, cited “sources” Tuesday as he discussed the pipeline in a Senate floor speech without identifying where his information came from. “He’ll wait until Congress is out of session for August,” Hoeven said, according to Bloomberg BNA. The $8 billion Keystone XL project proposed by TransCanada Corp. has become one of the most contentious energy issues of Obama’s presidency. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline because it would promote development of the Alberta oil sands, which releases more greenhouse gases than conventional drilling. Hoeven supports the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have the capacity to carry about 830,000 barrels of oil a day to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Obama vetoed a bill the Republican-led Congress passed this […]
A field of 14 storage tanks that each hold 510,000bbls of oil can be seen at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Marine Terminal in Valdez, Alaska on August 8, 2008. “The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not an ATM,” Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee warned the Senate this week. “It is certainly not the petty cash drawer for Congress.” The senator from Alaska was criticizing a proposal to sell 101 million barrels of crude from the government’s stocks to offset a shortfall in funding in the highway trust fund. “Others are potentially looking to our Strategic Petroleum Reserve as nothing more than a piggybank,” Murkowski admonished her colleagues in a floor speech delivered on Wednesday. There is nothing new or particularly surprising about Congress raiding pots of apparently surplus assets to pay for short-term spending priorities. Between fiscal 1993 and fiscal 2005, almost $6 billion worth of […]
Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., works to steer energy policy to reflect shale boom, though industry groups say the efforts fall far short of what’s needed. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg) WASHINGTON, July 23 (UPI) — The American Petroleum Institute said there is still more work to do as U.S. lawmakers work to craft legislation that matches the shale energy landscape. "The last major energy legislation was crafted in 2007, and important changes are needed to unlock the full economic and security benefits made possible by America’s energy revolution," API Executive Vice President Louis Finkel said in a statement. A House energy subcommittee unanimously passed a measure to modernize U.S. energy infrastructure and "bolster America’s energy security and diplomacy." Lawmakers and industry supporters are pressing for new policies to reflect the gains in U.S. oil and natural gas production, drawn largely from shale basins in states like Texas and North Dakota. […]
On the other side is Consumers and Refiners United for Domestic Energy, which spent $180,000 on lobbying through the first half of this year to retain the ban. It includes PBF and Delta Air Lines Inc. unit Monroe Energy LLC. Exact amounts being spent on the export ban aren’t available because registrants disclose total expenditures on all issues in a single form. ConocoPhillips has the most extensive effort on the ban, according to the filings. It’s hired three firms to represent it, in addition to five lobbyists on its own staff. Other big oil producers, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp., support ending the export limits. All three have their own lobbying teams as well as outside firms to help on the issue. While there is some congressional support for lifting the restrictions, there probably isn’t enough backing to end them before the 2016 elections, […]
