Days after the US House passed a bill to end the 40-year-old ban on exports of US-produced crude oil (OGJ Online, Oct. 9, 2015), the American Petroleum Institute urged federal lawmakers on the other side of the Capitol to follow suit.
The House sent a strong message that it stands for a bright US energy and economic future when it passed HR 702 by a strong bipartisan majority, API Pres. Jack N. Gerard said.
“We now call on Senate to do the same,” he told reporters during a teleconference. “We urge them to unleash our nation’s energy potential by ending this vestige of our nation’s era of energy scarcity, dependence, and insecurity.”
The US Chamber of Commerce also asked its members to press the Senate to follow the House and act.
Their calls came amid reports that Senate Republicans are looking for ways to win support from more Democrats for repealing the ban. One reported possibility is adding support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which expired on Sept. 30, to one of the ban repeal measures that has been introduced.
Gerard said API has mobilized its network of 35 million grassroots advocates which has helped grow bipartisan support in the House and Senate for repealing the ban and allowing the US to be a world energy leader.
“The energy policy choices we make today will impact our nation’s consumers in the future. Consumers need more energy and more efficiencies, not less,” he said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
