Obama Should Give Americans the Same Deal Hes Giving Iran
By Dr. Merrill Matthews IPI PolicyBytes
It turns out that President Obama will let Iran increase its crude oil exports but not the U.S.--at least not yet.
The presidents nuclear agreement with Iran will remove economic sanctions and allow the country to expand its crude oil exports.
Before the U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions on Iran in 2012 the country exported about 2.6 million barrels of crude oil a day. After sanctions that figure dropped to about 1.4 million barrels a day but energy analysts expect an Iran free of sanctions would eventually add another million barrels a day to its total.
But even as Obama makes his case for the nuclear agreement which would allow Iran to benefit economically from expanded crude oil exports he hesitates giving the U.S. economy the same stimulus.
Obama and the White House have expressed concerns that lifting the U.S. ban completely would raise gasoline prices--although many economists and the Government Accountability Office dispute that claim. Really? So why isnt he concerned that would happen by letting Iran expand exports?
The reason the U.S. is in this predicament is that in the wake of long lines at gasoline stations in the 1970s Congress passed legislation prohibiting the export of crude oil. That export ban has been in effect for 40 years and it is time to end it. The world isnt experiencing a shortage of oil but a surplus. And U.S. producers need a global market for it.
The good news is some steps have been taken. The Obama administration has permitted the export of condensate an ultra-light crude that takes little processing and has approved limited crude oil exports to Mexico.
In addition Senate Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who heads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
pushed through legislation at the end of July that would end the ban. The bill still has a big hill to climb to become law but its a start.
Would Obama sign it? Who knows but the president who sees no problem letting Iran expand its exports should see no problem in letting his own country do the same.
Todays PolicyByte was written by Dr. Merrill Matthews resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation.
