TEXAS: With excess of crude oil filling up pipelines and storage tanks and pushing down US oil prices, Texas lawmakers are calling on Washington to lift its 40-year-old ban on crude exports.
“Congress should update our national trade policy to benefit Texas producers and consumers,” state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, said Monday at a joint hearing of the House Energy Resources Committee, which he chairs, and the chamber’s International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee.
More than 100 Texas House members have signed on to a proposed resolution that calls the ban a “relic from an era of scarcity and flawed price control policies” that should be lifted. All three Texas railroad commissioners voiced support for the legislation, saying that finding more buyers for U.S. crude would prompt drilling, pouring more cash into the state treasury.
“If we want to sustain the ‘Texas miracle’ and lead the way to energy security, we have to compete in the international market,” Commissioner David Porter told lawmakers.
American companies may export refined petroleum products such as gasoline or diesel, but most crude here is stuck at home.
