America still imports nearly a million barrels a day, while we send three million barrels a day overseas

Washington (September 25, 2019) – As a result of the lifting of the 40-year old ban on exporting American crude oil, historic amounts of U.S. oil are now going to foreign nations rather than staying here to benefit American consumers. Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have reintroduced legislation to reinstate the ban on sending American crude abroad. The Block All New (BAN) Oil Exports Act would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to reinstate the ban on the export of crude oil and natural gas produced in the United States. U.S. crude oil exports reached more than three million barrels per day in June 2019, even as the U.S. still imported nearly one million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products per day on a net basis this year. The omnibus spending bill that was enacted into law in December 2015 lifted the 40-year old restrictions on exporting U.S. oil overseas.

“It makes no sense to deploy our men and women in uniform to Saudi Arabia to protect their oil, while we still export our own overseas,” said Senator Markey. “The Trump administration and the oil industry are sending U.S. oil overseas to the highest bidder even as we still import millions of barrels of oil every day from nations around the world in unstable regions. The repeal of the oil export ban wasn’t about helping consumers at the pump, it’s about pumping up Big Oil’s profits. We need to end our addiction to oil and embrace a Green New Deal. Rather than continuing to undermine American energy independence to increase the oil industry’s bottom line, Congress should extend the wind and solar tax credits that support the technologies that are helping reduce dangerous carbon pollution and creating clean energy jobs.”

“The math simply doesn’t add up here. America shouldn’t be both importing and exporting millions of barrels of oil a day, wasting precious resources and time while furthering America’s dependence on oil,” said Senator Wyden. “It’s time to stop propping up Big Oil and pivot, instead, to making a full-fledged effort to transition to a clean energy future and kick our carbon habit once and for all.”

A copy of the BAN Oil Exports Act can be found HERE.

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