Democrats in the US Senate on Tuesday spelled out the price they will exact from Republicans in order to support a government funding bill if it includes a provision to end the four-decade old ban on US oil exports, according to Reuters.
Among the Democrats’ requirements would be: extending tax credits for wind and solar power for 10 years or making them permanent; the reauthorizing and full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which maintains national parks with revenues from oil operations; assurances that Congress will support US contributions to the United Nations Green Climate Fund.
Such measures would be difficult for Republican US Senators, the majority of whom back the lifting of the oil export ban, to accept.
Other bills specifically about the lifting of the oil export ban have also been progressing through Congress but President Barack Obama has said he would veto those if they reach his desk. Backers of those bills lack a big enough majority to override the president’s veto.
The ban on oil exports was introduced in the 1970s in response to policies by Middle East producers that led to shortages in the US.
