The United States appears on the brink of ending
a four-decade-old ban on most exports of crude oil, an abrupt end to a
years-long fight triggered by the domestic shale boom.
Late on Tuesday evening congressional
negotiators wrapped up a sprawling deal to keep the U.S. government operating
through next September that included repealing the ban and granting temporary
tax breaks to boost wind and solar development, according to lawmakers involved
in the talks.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers will
meet separately on Wednesday to discuss the $1.15 trillion spending bill that
was negotiated in secretive talks by congressional leaders over the last two
weeks. Lawmakers hope to vote on it soon, possibly Friday. If it passes both
the House and the Senate, the measure to keep the government funded through
September would be difficult for President Barack Obama to veto.
It would be a win for the U.S. oil industry and
Republicans, who had argued that the ban was an archaic relic of the bygone
Arab oil embargo era, albeit a symbolic one for the moment: With U.S. output
now falling as oil prices slump, analysts say it could be months or years
before exports flow in large volumes.
Critics of the ban say it would help keep the
U.S. drilling boom alive by closing the years-long gap in cheaper domestic
prices and higher global rates, and also give U.S. allies alternatives to
Russia and OPEC for their oil supplies.
"Lifting the oil export ban is very
important to our industry to enable them to compete on a global basis,"
said Senator John Hoeven, a Republican from oil producing North Dakota, who has
pressured Congress to axe the trade restriction. "If we always get a lower
price than the rest of the world that obviously gives the advantage to OPEC and
Russia," he said.
Opponents, including many Democrats in the
Senate, say it would put oil refining and ship building jobs at risk and more
drilling would harm the environment and increase the number of trains carrying
crude oil.
Republicans had made lifting the ban a top priority
in the bill and swapped it for measures Democrats wanted to reduce carbon
emissions and protect the environment.
While many Democrats including President Barack
Obama have opposed lifting the ban, a drop in oil prices, which briefly touched
nearly 11 year lows this week below $40 a barrel, helped ease their worries
that doing so would boost gasoline prices for consumers.
The bill, posted early on Wednesday morning,
allows the U.S. president to stop oil exports for one year if he or she
declares a national emergency, or an administration declares that the exports
are causing a domestic oil shortage or raising U.S. oil prices.
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