WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Lifting the US crude oil export ban would negatively impact the environment and increase shipping and transportation risks, Center for American Progress Director of the Public Lands Project Matt Lee-Ashley said in a press release on Friday.
“A hasty decision to outsource US refinery capacity might boost oil company profits, but it would also carry a high environmental price tag and create uncertainty for consumers,” Lee-Ashley said.
Some US politicians and think tanks have argued lifting 40-year-old crude oil export ban would be beneficial for the United States and its allies as it will decrease the market share of hostile suppliers.
However, Lee-Ashley urged the US Congress to consider environmental costs prior to voting on lifting the export ban.
“Congress should carefully weigh the full costs and risks of outsourcing American oil, including the likelihood of higher carbon pollution, more oil trains and tankers, and the loss of an area bigger than Arches National Park every year to drill rigs,” he warned.
The US Government Accountability Office has said lifting the oil export ban would likely lead to some environmental damage as well as create transportation problems along already overburdened energy infrastructure.
