FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 29 January 2014
Contacts: Steve Kretzmann, steve [at] priceofoil [dot] org
David Turnbull, david [at] priceofoil [dot] org
Response to Senate Energy Committee Hearing on Crude Export Ban
As the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee convenes a hearing to discuss the crude oil export ban, Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director of Oil Change International, released the following statement:
“Lifting the crude oil export ban is an idea only the oil companies and their paid Representatives in Washington could love. Exporting US crude oil will immediately raise the price of oil in North America, raise profits for Big Oil, and thus increase dangerous drilling in our backyards and on our public lands. More drilling means more climate change, more pipeline spills, more rail car explosions, and more poisoned land and water.
The delusion that we can produce more oil and fight climate change at the same time is currently in vogue in Washington policy circles, while courage, strength of conviction, and common sense seem to be in short supply. Climate science clearly demonstrates the need to stop the expansion of the oil industry, not feed it by granting access to more markets. Lifting the export ban, like the entire All of the Above energy strategy, is simply climate denial.
The United States must not export its crude oil but should instead play a leading role in international efforts to stop new exploration for oil, coal, and gas that we cannot afford to burn, and to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”
More information on the crude export ban can be found in Oil Change International’s report, “Should It Stay or Should It Go: The Case Against U.S. Crude Oil Exports.”
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