Week Ahead: Time to lift the oil export ban?
January 27, 2014
By Laura Barron-Lopez
A Senate committee plans next week to broach an idea that had been considered unthinkable for decades: lifting the nation’s ban on crude oil exports.
The ban was established in the 1970s during the Arab oil embargoes. Talk of abolishing the ban has become more frequent in the administration and among lawmakers since late last year.
Now, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has agreed to hold a hearing on whether the ban should be ended.
On Thursday, the committee will “explore opportunities and challenges” associated with lifting the ban.
Wyden likely won’t be as quick as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the ranking member on the committee, to back ending the decades-old ban.
