The moves show momentum for upgrading the nation’s energy infrastructure and lifting a decades-old ban.
It was a big day for energy.
Measures that would end the U.S. oil export ban, ease restrictions on offshore drilling, support energy efficiency and upgrade the nation’s electricity infrastructure won approval from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, clearing a substantial hurdle to head toward full Senate debate.
“Nobody’s getting everything they want, that’s for darn sure, but I do think this is an impressive journey that we have gone down in the past several months,” Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said after the votes.
The major bill, the Energy Policy Modernization Act, gives a bit of something to everyone: It would ease the permitting process for natural gas pipelines but also permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which supports parks and public lands. The measure also buttresses energy-efficiency initiatives and supports some carbon-free energy sources, such as hydropower, but gives little mention to wind or solar – the two fastest-growing sources of green energy today.
Some of the most divisive issues in energy – from stricter environmental protections to an end to the nation’s ban on oil exports – were not included in the bill. It cleared the committee in an 18-4 vote, and if ultimately signed into law, would be the first comprehensive energy reform to get through Congress since 2007.
“This committee has been too long without moving energy policy legislation,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member. She formally introduced the bill with Murkowski last Wednesday. “Today is a very important first step in that process.”
Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jeff Flake of Arizona, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont – a Democratic presidential candidate – voted against the bill.
A separate measure that would both lift the nation’s decades-old restriction on exporting crude oil and open restricted parts of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling passed along party lines, with Republican committee members voting in favor 12-10. Murkowski and some Democrats representing oil-heavy states have long sought to repeal the export ban, arguing it would add a powerful lever to American foreign policy as well as shore up domestic oil production and lower gasoline prices.
“It would help bring down prices at the pump for consumers, and it would be good for our allies,” Boehner told reporters Wednesday, the House’s last day in session before the August recess. “I would support lifting the ban, and hopefully we can work together in a bipartisan fashion to move our energy policies into this century.”
Opponents, by contrast, say such a move would undercut attempts to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions and slow global warming by encouraging more oil drilling. Some chemical companies and refineries that buy U.S. crude oil also hope to preserve the ban, which they say has helped suppress prices.
The ban dates to the 1970s and the Arab oil embargo, and was implemented by Congress in an attempt to at least partially insulate the U.S. from volatile global markets. Experts disagree whether the strategy worked as intended: Imports dropped through the early 1980s, only to rise again for the next two decades. Imports began falling again in 2006, largely the result of the U.S. domestic production boom.
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s main lobbying and trade organization, applauded both bills. “The outdated export ban only harms America’s ability to compete with other suppliers, like Iran and Russia,” Louis Finkel, the group’s executive vice president for government affairs, said in a statement.
“It’s ironic that the U.S. would strike a deal to allow Iranian crude onto the global market while refusing to give the same opportunity to American producers,” he said, referring to the nuclear deal the U.S. and other world powers have negotiated with Iran. “Lifting the ban will put downward pressure on fuel costs, create jobs and strengthen our position as a global energy superpower.”
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