Joe Barton

This is a win-win. It is a win for the consumer. It is a win for the producer.

U.S. oil production is increasing. It is over 10 million barrels a day and going up at least for the time being.

If we were to repeal the ban on crude oil exports, we would allow U.S. producers to sell their oil to any willing buyer whether it was domestic or foreign.

My bill is a very simple bill. It is a page long. It repeals the ban on crude oil exports that was first established back in 1975.

If we repeal the ban, Mr. Chairman, on crude oil exports that discount disappears.

The only certainty would be that electricity rates would go, reliability would go down, and there would be routine blackouts.

This is not a health-based rule. It is not a rule based on a real economic science.

There is absolutely no health benefit to this proposal.

Why is the government subsidizing this harm?

This is government-supported addiction. It is not moving people to sobriety.

I think that is a good thing. I believe in states' rights.

I believe in states' rights. New York doesn't want to allow hydraulic fracturing, so they don't.

We have to shut down 45 percent of our existing coal-fired power plants; two of which are in my old congressional district.

The EPA has a right to set a national standard in interstate commerce to protect public health.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So it may be counterintuitive to some, but if we allow crude oil exports, at least over time we are going to stabilize world prices and probably bring them down because we are increasing U.S. domestic crude oil production.

The Endangered Species Act should be a protection, not a weapon.

We are having droughts out of west Texas too, just like California.

Without being able to export a finished product--mostly diesel too, some gasoline, but mostly diesel--we are able to keep those refineries up and running, and that is a national security thing.

I am the sponsor of the bill to repeal the ban on crude oil exports. So I am pro crude oil exports.

In this environment we shouldn't be making it harder to drill.

Energy means amazing opportunities for these small towns.

As we go forward in this Congress, we need to work together, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion, to craft an energy policy that is acceptable to all sides.

The United States is probably the most blessed Nation in the world in terms of energy resources.

You don't just stand up and say, you know, we have this agreement, and hug, and everybody just loves each other.