WRNO New Orleans reports:
An end to a four-decade ban on U.S. crude oil exports could be coming under a federal spending compromise under consideration by Congress.
In return for a demand by Republicans to end the ban, Democrats would get a five-year extension of credits for wind and solar energy producers and a renewal of a land and water conservation fund.
Economists says exports could help the economy by further reducing fuel prices, by encouraging investment in production and shipping and by creating jobs.
In an appearance Thursday on New Orleans’ Morning News with Gerry V., Congressman Steve Scalise said it could make the U.S. “the Saudi Arabia of the world.”
“We now have an abundance of oil, we literally can be a world supplier, way more than enough to meet our own needs but also help our allies around the world so they don’t have to buy oil from countries like Russia and Iran.”
Scalise says the move could create as many as 5,000 jobs in Louisiana alone.
The congressman says it could lead to even lower prices, “because you’re opening up even greater supply.”
This week, crude prices fell below $35 per barrel, down from more than $100 per barrel in June of last year.