DURHAM: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would support lifting the U.S.’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports only as part of a broader plan that included concessions from the oil and natural gas industry.
“In general, in the absence of a broader energy plan that does include concessions from the oil and gas industry, I don’t think the ban should be lifted,” Mrs. Clinton, the top Democratic candidate for president, told reporters Friday. “I’m not against it under all circumstances.”
Her comments come at a time when the nation’s domestic oil boom of the last decade is sparking a debate in the U.S. over whether to lift the ban, which Congress put in place after the 1973 Arab oil embargo sent gasoline prices skyrocketing.
Some Democrats and consumer groups are opposed to lifting the ban because they worry it could raise gasoline prices. Meanwhile, environmental groups also oppose the effort because it could prompt more production of oil and natural gas.
While not as familiar to voters as the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for seven years, oil exports is emerging on the presidential campaign trail as a top energy issue. (Mrs. Clinton said this week will give her views on the Keystone XL pipeline “soon.”)
Most Republican presidential candidates, including frontrunners Donald Trump and Ben Carson, support lifting the oil-export ban. Mr. Trump indicated his opposition at a speech in Dallas this week, describing the ban as “archaic.” A spokesman for Mr. Carson’s campaign said in an email this week that Mr. Carson supports lifting the ban. Other Democratic candidates oppose lifting the ban.
The Republican-controlled House is set to vote on legislation lifting the restrictions as soon as the end of the month. That bill is relatively narrow and does not include any provisions that could be considered concessions by the oil and gas industry. Prospects of that legislation in Senate, also controlled by Republicans, are less clear, though this week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said for the first time he supports lifting the ban.
Mrs. Clinton’s comments echoes those made by congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), and Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.), who said they might be open to supporting legislation that lifts the nation’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports as part of broader legislation that also supports renewable energy. No such legislative deal-making is evident on Capitol Hill and it’s unlikely the oil industry, which has been lobbying to lift the ban for the last year, would support any such compromise.
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