In a recent Washington Post editorial supporting oil industry efforts to lift the existing ban on exporting crude oil produced in America, the editors stated:
“The most serious objection to lifting the ban comes from environmentalists who worry that it would lower fossil fuel prices and lead to more oil consumption.”
And then they make the case that this is actually a positive as there may be some negotiations that result in support for “energy research funding, efficiency programs or, in an ideal world, a charge on carbon dioxide emissions to the package could balance its possible effects on the environment.”
In an ideal world, the climate wouldn’t be changing either. But we don’t live in an ideal world, do we? And the oil industry usually gets what it wants and environmental concerns go by the wayside regardless of who is in the White House. See arctic drilling permits for recent proof.
Existing Export Ban Limits Ability of Fracking Industry to Expand
The reality is that lifting the oil export ban will result in large increases in fracking for oil in the U.S.
At the annual Energy Information Administration conference in Washington, D.C. in June, Harold Hamm, CEO of fracking giant Continental Resources, presented a slide that predicted oil production could reach 20 million barrels per day by 2025 if the crude export ban is repealed.
That is a massive increase over the existing amount of oil produced by fracking (aka “tight oil”) in the U.S. Tight oil current accounts for approximately half of the 9 million barrels a day of oil produced in the U.S. To get to Hamm’s predicted production levels that means a doubling or tripling of the scale of the current tight oil fracking industry.
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