Letter to President Bush on Oil Exports

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August 19, 2008


The Honorable George W. Bush
President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.


Dear Mr. President:

Last year, the United States sent an average of 1.433 million barrels a day of oil and petroleum products to foreign nations. That number has since jumped to 1.806 million barrels a day in May 2008, the most recent month for which data is available. That export level amounts to nearly 10 percent of all the oil the United States consumes every day. In addition, the United States reached the highest level of oil exports in our nation’s history in February of this year. Rather than being shipped overseas, that oil should remain here at home to help American consumers who are facing record energy prices.  

Sending America’s vital energy resources overseas during our time of need should stop.  I am writing to urge you to determine whether you have authority to take action to immediately halt all exports of U.S. oil, and if not, to work with Congress to give the Executive Branch authority to protect America’s vital resources. Continuing to allow oil companies to export domestically produced oil at a time of near record gas prices is only exacerbating our current energy crisis. It is imperative that action be taken to immediately halt all shipments of domestically produced oil overseas to protect American consumers.

You have called for lifting the moratoria on offshore drilling off our beaches on the East and West Coasts and Florida in order to produce more oil domestically. However, your own Department of Energy projects that at the height of production, in 2030, increased offshore drilling would produce only 200,000 barrels per day – one ninth the amount of oil we currently send to foreign countries every day. Moreover, at the current export rate, by the time the first barrel of oil could be produced from increased offshore drilling, we would have already exported the equivalent of nearly 40 percent of the oil that is projected to lie beneath protected areas offshore.

It is unacceptable to allow our domestically produced oil to be exported in such large quantities while America is facing an energy crisis. You must step forward to protect American consumers and our national security by determining how to stop the export of all U.S. oil.
Sincerely,


Edward J. Markey
Chairman

cc:    Mr. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Ranking Member

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