ICYMI: Congress could lift ban on oil exports by end of year

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.) recently joined WWLTV in New Orleans to share his work in House leadership to lift the forty-year old ban on crude oil exports before the end of 2015. Excerpts from the article are below:

WWLTV: Congress could lift ban on oil exports by end of year

By: Paul Murphy, Eyewitness News Reporter

The Louisiana oil and gas industry may receive an early Christmas present this year. Lawmakers are poised to lift a decades old ban on U.S. oil exports.

It would be included as a provision in the year-end tax and spending bill now before Congress. Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise is pushing for the change.

"I've been pushing for this all year to try to find some way to get it to the president's desk in a bill that he'll sign," Scalise said. "I think we finally have the opportunity. I hope by the end of this week, we'll pass the bill out of the House and Senate and get it to the president's desk."

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Experts say lifting the ban could create about 5,400 new jobs in Louisiana.

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Scalise says the U.S. could be a major player in the oil and gas industry worldwide.

"You've got these shale plays across the country, where you can find oil in unconventional places," Scalise said. "Just a few years ago they thought we might be running out of oil, now we've got a surplus to the point to where we can be the energy leader in the world. We have more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia.”

Background on Scalise involvement in lifting the crude oil export ban:

-In November, the House passed H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015. This comprehensive American energy bill included an amendment that would lift the ban on crude oil exports.

-In October, the House approved H.R. 702, a bill to lift the ban on crude oil exports. Scalise spoke on the House floor in support of lifting the outdated ban.

-As a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (E&C), Scalise submitted an opening statement for the Subcommittee markup of H.R. 702, The subcommittee unanimously approved the measure in September. Later that month, E&C favorably approved the bill.

-Scalise is a cosponsor of H.R. 702, a bill “To adapt to changing crude oil market conditions.”

-Scalise applauded the U.S. Department of Energy’s conclusion that “[p]etroleum product prices in the United States, including gasoline prices, would be either unchanged or slightly reduced by the removal of current restrictions on crude oil exports.”

-In August, Scalise praised the U.S. Department of Commerce for allowing some export swaps of crude oil to Mexico.

-In July, Scalise joined WWL-TV in New Orleans to discuss the importance of lifting the ban

-In his role as Majority Whip, Scalise has been promoting lifting the ban to his House colleagues.