Over the last few months, the media and the policy world have discovered that America’s archaic crude oil export restrictions are really bad policy. Two new and important developments give this welcome and growing movement even more momentum:
- In a much-publicized speech yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R‑AK), ranking member of the Senate Energy Committee, advocated modernizing U.S. export restrictions on energy products, particularly natural gas and crude oil. Accompanying her speech was a new white paper on the same topic, which (i) highlights the serious economic problems caused by the current crude oil export licensing system (which is effectively a ban on exports to all countries except Canada); (ii) confirms the widely held view that oil exports won’t cause higher gas prices; and (iii) recommends that the president, the Commerce Department, or–if they continue to do nothing–Congress relax the export ban. Just as importantly, Murkowski’s views were recently echoed by Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D‑LA) who stands to take over the Senate Energy Committee this year. Thus, there could be bi-partisan support for easing the U.S. crude oil ban on the Senate committee arguably most integral to any such reforms.
- Also, today, the American Petroleum Institute’s president and CEO Jack Gerard reiterated his organization’s support for lifting the crude oil export ban:
API’s Jack Gerard on US crude exports: “action should be taken” to free oil trade. “It’s time for a change of mentality” #SOAE2014
— Ed Crooks (@Ed_Crooks) January 7, 2014
Gerards’s formal announcement echoes a few previous statements from folks at API (which is the largest U.S. energy trade association and a big player on Capitol Hill) and is a good sign that they’re going to push harder on this issue in the future. (API’s related blog post, which calls the crude export ban “obsolete,” certainly indicates as much.)
These two developments should be welcome news for anyone concerned with free markets, economic growth, and well-functioning energy markets. As I argued in a February 2013 Cato paper (and subsequent podcast), the crude oil export restrictions–and the similar, more well-known restrictions on U.S. natural gas exports–raise a host of economic, legal, and policy concerns. These restrictions should be replaced with a simple, transparent, and automatic licensing system for all exports of U.S. energy goods (not just fossil fuels).