CBS New Orleans (WWL-TV) reports that “[l]awmakers are poised to lift a decades old ban on U.S. oil exports,” and “Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise is pushing for the change.”
“I’ve been pushing for this all year to try to find some way to get it to the president’s desk in a bill that he’ll sign,” Scalise said. “I think we finally have the opportunity. I hope by the end of this week, we’ll pass the bill out of the House and Senate and get it to the president’s desk.” …Experts say lifting the ban could create about 5,400 new jobs in Louisiana. “Lifting the ban is somewhere between a no-brainer and the right thing to do,” said GNO, Inc., President and CEO Michael Hecht. Hecht added that it would give the energy sector, reeling from 100,000 job cuts this year, a needed shot in the arm. “Louisiana would be a big beneficiary in terms of jobs and GDP as would all the oil-producing states, but the nation as a whole would also benefit in terms of national security,” Hecht said. Scalise says the U.S. could be a major player in the oil and gas industry worldwide. “You’ve got these shale plays across the country, where you can find oil in unconventional places,” Scalise said. “Just a few years ago they thought we might be running out of oil, now we’ve got a surplus to the point to where we can be the energy leader in the world. We have more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia.”
For months, Scalise has been pushing for a full repeal of the outdated ban. Click here to watch WWL-TV’s full story on today’s developments.