Allied Progress Applauds White House Opposition to Crude Oil Export Ban Repeal Effort in Congress
“We applaud President Obama for standing with the vast majority of Americans in opposing big oil’s effort to repeal this critical policy.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that President Barack Obama opposes Congressional efforts backed by the oil and gas industry to lift the crude oil export ban, a critical 40-year old policy that blocks a majority of raw American crude oil from being exported to foreign countries. Following the news, Allied Progress released the following statement from its executive director, Karl Frisch:
“We applaud President Obama for standing with the vast majority of Americans in opposing big oil’s effort to repeal this critical policy.”
“The White House is right to question the energy policy priorities of those in Congress and their powerful special interest bankrollers from the oil and gas industry who support repealing the crude oil export ban.”
“Big oil’s lobbyists are working overtime to shove repeal of the crude oil export ban down Congress’ throat as quickly and quietly as possible. Doing so could have devastating effects including, increased gas prices, thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, and our hope for American energy independence being squandered.”
Politico reported this afternoon:
“We’ve got a position on this, which is that this is a policy decision that is made over at the Commerce Department. And for that reason, we wouldn’t support legislation like the one that’s been put forward by Republicans,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “It is pretty clear, once again, where Republicans in Congress and their political benefactors stand when it comes to their energy policy priorities,” Earnest said while calling on the GOP to reverse course and support ending “billions in subsidies” enjoyed by oil companies.
Allied Progress recently released a fact sheet outlining some of the potential damaging impacts of repealing the ban. A recent national survey found that a strong majority of Americans back the President’s position. In the survey, nearly 70 percent of all respondents were opposed to allowing oil and gas companies to export more U.S. oil and gas to foreign countries, including 61 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of independents, and 75 percent of Democrats.
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