--- description: Legislation would eliminate the 40-year ban on exporting U.S. oil while maintaining subsidies for renewable energy title: This Is Why the U.S. Could Soon Be Exporting Oil image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb13159e84a671bf8/698875cc428a9e7b3dcd09fb/oil-drilling-export-ban.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Lifting the U.S. Oil Export Ban May Not Lift the Economy  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 16, 2015 9:25 PM CUT  RUEHLERMOOR, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 23: Pumpjacks pump petroleum from the ground on September 23, 2014 near Ruehlermoor, Germany. Germany produces approximately three million tons of petroleum domestically per year, a tiny fraction of the 112 million tons it consumes. The country also produces 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which covers approximately 12% of domestic demand. Many countries in Europe are seeking to exploit domestic sources of energy more rigorously in an effort to reduce their dependence on oil and gas from Russia in the wake of the rifts caused by the war in eastern Ukraine. (Photo by David Hecker/Getty Images) RUEHLERMOOR, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 23: Pumpjacks pump petroleum from the ground on September 23, 2014 near Ruehlermoor, Germany. Germany produces approximately three million tons of petroleum domestically per year, a tiny fraction of the 112 million tons it consumes. The country also produces 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which covers approximately 12% of domestic demand. Many countries in Europe are seeking to exploit domestic sources of energy more rigorously in an effort to reduce their dependence on oil and gas from Russia in the wake of the rifts caused by the war in eastern Ukraine. (Photo by David Hecker/Getty Images)David Hecker—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 16, 2015 9:25 PM CUT A negotiated spending bill that if passed as expected will help avoid a shutdown of the federal government has environmentalists celebrating—and concerned. The legislation, expected to win Congressional approval this week, would eliminate the 40-year ban on exporting U.S. oil while also extending subsidies for solar and wind power. Republicans in Congress, who have sought to repeal the oil export ban for years, argue that selling oil overseas will create jobs and revenue in the U.S. energy sector, which has been hurting thanks to declining crude prices. It would also erode global dependence on sometimes volatile countries in the Middle East. “We have an opportunity to modernize our energy export policy and make America a world leader on issues of trade, the environment, and energy production,” said Senate Energy Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican. “We must seize it.” Congress first imposed the ban in 1975 following an oil crisis that saw the price of a barrel more than quadruple when Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refused to export their oil to the U.S. Policymakers also faced declining domestic oil production following a peak in 1970 as existing wells began drying up. The decline continued until 2009 when production began to rise thanks to advances in technology like hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, which allows drillers to reach previously unaccessible sources. And as domestic oil supplies have become more widely available, prices have plummeted. The cost of a barrel of crude oil has dropped by two-thirds since the summer of last year, with little expectations of a rise any time soon. Low global costs of oil has also reduced the relevance of lifting the oil export ban. Oil can be easily accessed in most parts of the globe at relatively low cost and foreign markets don’t need U.S. oil, energy experts say. **Read More:** [How Cities and States Took the Spotlight in Paris Climate Talks](http://time.com/4140172/paris-cities-states-climate-change/ "undefined") But environmentalists have called the repeal a step backwards. The decision comes just days after countries committed to an [historic agreement](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/ "undefined") to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Greens say any incentive to increase drilling runs contrary to that deal and lessens the chances of meeting the agreement’s goal of holding temperature rise well below 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100\. President Barack Obama opposes lifting the ban, but observers on both sides of the aisle doubt that he will hold up funding the U.S. federal government over it. “Caving on the oil export ban is like a group of firefighters giving an early Christmas present to the local arsonists,” said Jason Kowalski, policy director at 350.org, in a statement. “Big Oil’s business plan is to burn the planet and lifting the ban just adds fuel to the fire.” But in exchange for lifting the export ban, Democrats in Congress were able to win concessions on key environmental provisions in support of environmental causes, including a five-year extension of tax credits for production of solar and wind energy ranks. Democrats said that the provisions would create tens of thousands of green jobs and reduce carbon emissions by a greater magnitude than lifting the export ban would increase them. “There is a lot to be said, pro and con, about this agreement,” said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in a statement. But “the extension of tax credits for solar and wind energy ‎is a game changer.” **Read More:** [How Climate Change Became the Central Development Issue](http://time.com/4137733/climate-change-development/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/"},"headline":"Why Lifting the U.S. Oil Export Ban May Not Lift the Economy","datePublished":"2015-12-16T21:25:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:25:51.105Z","description":"Legislation would eliminate the 40-year ban on exporting U.S. oil while maintaining subsidies for renewable energy","url":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/","keywords":["climate change","energy","Oil"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb13159e84a671bf8/698875cc428a9e7b3dcd09fb/oil-drilling-export-ban.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb13159e84a671bf8/698875cc428a9e7b3dcd09fb/oil-drilling-export-ban.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"oil drilling export ban","caption":"oil drilling export ban","creditText":"David Hecker—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/","name":"Why Lifting the U.S. Oil Export Ban May Not Lift the Economy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: John Kerry Says Planet Is Changing In \"Alarming Ways\"","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/RBodJ4fI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-09T17:57:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/RBodJ4fI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4151506/spending-bill-oil-export-ban/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```