Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on October 11, 2015
House Passes Bill Axing US Oil Export Ban, Veto Looms
A bill to repeal the U.S. oil export ban passed the House of Representatives on Friday, but faces an uncertain future after a veto threat by President Barack Obama.
The bill sponsored by Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, passed the House 261 to 159, failing to reach the 290 votes necessary to overturn a presidential veto.
Only 26 Democrats voted for the bill despite Republicans’ late effort to attract them by adding a measure to provide funds for the Maritime Security Program. The fleet of privately-owned ships brings supplies to U.S. troops and allies abroad.
The White House this week threatened to veto the House bill, saying Congress should work to move the country to cleaner sources of energy. The administration advocated measures including ending billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and instead investing in wind and solar power and energy efficiency.
Congress passed the ban in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo caused snaking lines at gas stations and fears of global oil shortages.
“Much has changed since the ban on crude was put in place,” Representative Fred Upton, a Republican of Michigan. “One of biggest threats to the American energy boom today is not an international actor, but rather our own ban on oil exports.”
Backers of repealing the trade restriction say it would keep the drilling boom alive and help U.S. allies find alternative sources of oil beyond Russia and the Middle East.
Opponents of lifting the ban, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union, say it will cost jobs in refineries and shipbuilding. Greens, meanwhile, say additional energy drilling will harm the environment.
Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, a state with several refineries, opposed the bill, saying it would be a “windfall to the oil industry.”
Two similar bills in the Senate have passed through committees, but backers are struggling to find enough Democrats to pass legislation in the full chamber.
19 Comments on "House Passes Bill Axing US Oil Export Ban, Veto Looms"
makati1 on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 6:29 am
The games that the incompetent play to entertain/distract the sheeple. Sigh…
rockman on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 6:52 am
“The White House this week threatened to veto the House bill, saying Congress should work to move the country to cleaner sources of energy.” And again the hypocritical words from the White House which is currently approving export exemptions allowing almost 200 million bbls of oil per year to be exported. The same White House that has raised no objections to the US exporting the equivalent of 1 BILLION bbl of oil as refined production which will used the generate GHG in other countries. The same White House that has not only approved exporting record amounts of coal from federal leases but has approved expanding coal export terminals in Texas and continues efforts to build new terminals on the west coast. The same White House, while not approving the KXL border crossing permits, fully supports the importation of the “dirtiest oil on the planet” from the Canadian oil sands. Support the POTUS publicly stated while standing in the construction yard of the southern leg of the KXL pipeline.
I know some take shots at makati for some of his anti-American rants. Difficult to take piss on him for his comment here.
joe on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 10:25 am
Guess what’s coming? A free trade zone with Europe, TPP was the warm up guys. Free trade of oil to peak oil Britain and Norway and Western Europe.
The downside though might be the return of the criminal Italian and drunken papist Irish immigrant! Oh let’s not forget millions of Muslims who might just want a life in the new world too!
Plantagenet on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 11:41 am
Rockman is right. O and the Ds like to pretend they are against the export of US oil while presiding over the export of 1 BILLION bbls of refined oil.
I’m surprised rank and file Ds keep falling for this stuff.
Cheers!
jjhman on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 3:25 pm
OK, I try to follow this stuff but I’m lost on this one. As near as I can tell we import about half of the petroleum that we use so exporting oil has nothing to do with helping the economy. Exempting some, I think, relatively small amounts associated with refinery efficiency the only reason I can imagine to want to export oil is to justify raising the price of WTI closer to Brent. What am I missing?
GregT on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 4:36 pm
“What am I missing?”
The multinational Oil Companies are looking to make greater profits at the expense of everyone, and everything else. Same as it ever was. Follow the money.
JuanP on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 4:58 pm
Jjh, You ain’t missing anything. You got it right, it is all about bringing WTI’s prices closer to Brent. Like Greg says, same as it ever was.
James Tipper on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 7:42 pm
Why anyone still pays even a shred of attention to American politics is beyond me.
makati1 on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 7:58 pm
James, unfortunately, the American voter doesn’t pay enough attention or he/she might just figure out that it is another con game and do something about it. 20 second sound bites and 500 word ‘news’ articles are about all his/her attention span can handle before he/she turns back to twitter or take selfies. The 20 and 30 somethings are the ones who will have to get in the streets by the millions to affect real change and they are too busy with their narrow personal lives.
rockman on Sun, 11th Oct 2015 8:51 pm
jj – First there really is no “economy” as you describe it. There is the oil production economy which has benefited by exporting oil. And there is the refining economy that has been hurt by oil exports. Of course the refining economy has benefited greatly by the unrestricted exports of their products. Of course the US consumer economy has been hurt by the export of refinery products which reduces domestic supplies. The US govt benefits from higher taxes paid by producers and refiners who make more profits by exporting their commodities.
I could offer more example but I’m sure you get the point. And I’ll point out once again US refineries need light oil/condensate as they need the heavy oils. They are not efficient cracking either. US refineries are most efficient processing blended oil with a weight of 31 API to 32 API. Prior to the Eagle Ford boom refineries had to import light oil to blend with our heavier oils. Which is why eastern Canadian refineries bought hundreds of millions of bbls of light EFS oil to blend with their heavy oil imports as well as to mix with their oil sands production so they can pump it. Yes: the 3 million bbls per day of “oil sands” production shipped to the US every day includes about 750,000 bbls of condensate much of which comes from the US.
And there is no such thing as justifying the price of any oil. Oil is priced by the market place. No seller need justify what price they sell at nor does any buyer need justify what they pay. It’s no difference then the salary you make: do you feel the need to justify it to anyone?
The reality isn’t that difficult t understand. But it can’t be done if most of the information is coming from the MSM, politicians and vested interests groups on both sides of the fence. Everything I’ve pointed out can be learned from the web. It just takes a bit t sort the facts from the BS.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 5:29 am
Side note: Boys you know I am anti-anti-American just from the point of view of please offer this American a little breathing room. Being told everyday 24/7/365 you are shit gets old. Yet, when your leader is like this you want to crawl under a rock. It is a bitch being American.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-11/obama-defends-failure-his-syria-policy-beligerent-60-minutes
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 9:57 am
Rock, Plant
Rockman is right. O and the Ds like to pretend they are against the export of US oil while presiding over the export of 1 BILLION bbls of refined oil.
I’m surprised rank and file Ds keep falling for this stuff.
For congress to get anything done they have to give and take. A coal port here and there and stopping one pipeline when there are many is just politics.
The bigger picture is he was able to pass pollution laws which is very quickly knocking coal’s market share of the electricity dramatically. Also refineries have to upgrade to CHIP/nat gas systems to power their plants to meet their new environmental air laws.
Obama also passed emission laws to ships that use our ports. They use some of the worst/cheapest fuel there is.
What he gave up is nothing compared to what he got when it comes cleaning some of the pollution. Another chip he played was allowing nat gas wells to keep flaring to promote nat gas to knock out coal quicker. I think flaring regulations come in 2022. I think he did better than expected considering the tea party controls the house.
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 10:13 am
Davy,
Obama ran on getting out of Iraq. Unfortunately he ran on sending in more troops to Afghanistan. There are no good actors in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya etc to hand a country over to even if we controlled all of them. That is the sad message. It is just a mess that can’t be solved.
Americans won’t stomach large amounts of ground troops and another trillion to the debt on no hopes of change.
The US has done a poor job of not getting the rest of the world involved with the cost of oil security.
Containment and keep the oil flowing is the best we can do.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 10:26 am
Boater, tell me what all that means? I watch the news so I don’t need an opt-Ed. I want a juicy steak. Tell me some profoundly boater insight.
Boat on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 11:15 am
Davy,
All you have is op-ed from zero-unhindged.
BobInget on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 11:44 am
The Port Arthur Refinery is an oil refinery located in Port Arthur, Texas. It is the largest oil refinery in the United States.
On January 1, 1989, Saudi Refining, Inc. purchased 50% of the Port Arthur refinery (and two others) from Texaco to form a joint venture with Texaco called Star Enterprise. In 2001, Texaco was purchased by Chevron. Shortly thereafter Chevron’s interest in this refinery (and two others) was sold to Shell on February 13, 2002. This new joint venture was called Motiva Enterprises LLC. Today, the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery is a joint venture with a 50% ownership between Shell Oil Products US and Saudi Refining Inc. Shell Oil Products is part of Royal Dutch Shell. Saudi Refining is part of Saudi Aramco. Approximately 1,200 people are employed at the site.
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 12:27 pm
Now that is something I agree on Boater “Zero Unhinged”. Yet, boater that is a comment on the times when one is forced to go to the unhinged to get something hinged.
apneaman on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 1:33 pm
Davy, why even identify with being an American at all? Will your head spontaneously self combust if you don’t? Why should anyone accept a prefabricated identity simply based on geography? Why do governments spend so much time, effort and money on instilling this, supposed natural tribalism? Do you need to say a pledge of allegiance to your family every morning to prove your loyalty? Sing the family anthem while saluting the family flag to show you’re rooting for the home team? Why would they make young impressionable children do this? If the country was so fucking awesome wouldn’t that truth be self evident? Sounds just like another religious ritual designed to instill loyalty for life under any conditions. Loyalty is like respect – it needs to be earned and can be lost. Do you know anyone who has changed for the worse and you do not associate with them anymore because of it? I don’t consider myself a citizen anymore – just another potential constantly harassed customer in a consumer zombie society. Societies can change just like people and often do. Americans once identified themselves as colonists loyal to the crown in an age when monarchy was believed to be heavenly ordained – the only possible society. Later on some identified with their state. I’m a Virginian. The it was as a southerner or northerner. See nothing is permanent, they just need you to believe that it is for cannon fodder, taxes and labour. The ideals no longer exist, we’re slaves (some in gilded cages) so what are people actual being loyal to? Emotion, indoctrination. I have disassociated myself from all that. Sure I still pay them their tax and that shit, but I have no loyalty to anything but my family and friends. The ideals are gone, just the facade is there but the core has been hollowed out. Many are blind or stupid or just don’t care – some are even happy and some realize it, but feel it is hopeless. Like me. No I do not feel any loyalty to a bunch of Canadian apes whose appetite for everything, things not needed, is going to kill us all.
Apparently more people know the species is fucked than are letting on. I have been saying that ignorance is overrated for sometime. Closet Doomers.
Many fear the worst for humanity, so how do we avoid surrendering to an apocalyptic fate?
http://theconversation.com/many-fear-the-worst-for-humanity-so-how-do-we-avoid-surrendering-to-an-apocalyptic-fate-47034
Davy on Mon, 12th Oct 2015 2:47 pm
Good question Ape Man, let me ponder that some. If for no other reason I like to piss dog paw off but I know I need a better reason than that.