The White House has announced that the Biden administration will not seek a ban on crude oil exports.
The Globe Banner reported that several bipartisan politicians called upon the administration to address the rumors that it would ban crude oil exports from the country in an attempt to lower gas prices.
“I heard you loud and clear and so has the White House," Jennifer Granholm, President Biden's energy secretary, recently said in a virtual meeting to leaders at an international oil-industry conference in Houston. "We wanted to put that rumor to rest.”
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) spearheaded the group that submitted a letter to the Biden administration raising concerns about how a ban on oil exports would affect gas prices, according to the Globe Banner.
“Any suggestion that reinstating the crude export ban would lower gasoline prices is misguided, due to the likely spike in international crude prices, which many U.S. refineries process,” the group wrote in the letter.
The Globe Banner reported that the document was signed by Democratic representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela, of Texas, and Sanford Bishop, of Georgia; and Republican Reps. August Pfluger, Roger Williams, and Tony Gonzales, of Texas, and Rep. Carol Miller, of West Virginia.
“This is something that we’re very concerned about, and something we’re raising to the highest levels of our government,” Mike Sommers, the chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute said at the Houston conference this week. “I think we’re making great progress with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to communicate this.”
Granholm added that the Biden Administration was aware that their clean energy policies and goals were a concern for the energy industry and said that they are working to increase domestic oil and gas production while looking to utilize "forward-facing solutions."
“I firmly believe those that embrace the change rather than fighting it will be rewarded on the other side," Granholm said at the meeting.
The Hill reports that Granholm's statement follows the sentiments of National Economic Council Director Brian Deese who recently stated that banning oil exports is “not an issue that we’re currently focused on.”
