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Obama Opposes Bill to Lift Oil Export Ban Set for House Vote

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 […]

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Upton: U.S. oil policies should match shale era

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 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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House Plans Vote on Bill to Lift Ban on Oil Exports

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. […]

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Truth takes a hit in the battle over U.S. oil export ban

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 […]

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US House Panel Passes Bill To Repeal Oil Export Ban

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 […]

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Contain Iran with oil, U.S. export backers say

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 […]

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US House panel set to approve crude oil exports bill Thursday

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 […]

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Congress Set to Duel Over Iran Nuclear Pact This Week

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 […]

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Rubio: Priority No. 1 is lifting U.S. oil export ban

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 […]

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Congress Likely to Repeal Oil Export Ban in 2016, Evercore Says

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 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple