Oil refiners to GOP: Reject Dem demands

A group that represents oil refiners is urging Senate Republicans to reject the compromise proposals floated by Democrats for lifting the ban on crude oil exports.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President Chet Thompson said the group doesn’t oppose lifting the ban on crude oil exports, something other refiner groups have come out against. 

{mosads}But such a measure shouldn’t include the sweeteners some Democrats have said will be necessary to win their support, including an extension of renewable energy tax credits, which has been mentioned by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.). 

“AFPM supports free markets and trade, and as such, does not oppose lifting the crude oil export ban,” Thompson wrote. 

“AFPM, however, will not compromise one free-market principle to secure another, and thus we would vigorously oppose any agreement or legislation linking the lifting of the crude oil export ban with subsidies, mandates, taxes, or other federal energy or environmental programs that intrude on the free market.”

Crude oil export supporters have been hunting for ways to attract Democratic votes in the Senate, where a bill simply lifting the 40-year-old ban is likely to run into a filibuster. 

Some members have proposed tying oil exports to everything from expanded wind and solar energy tax credits to the renewal of a lapsed federal conservation fund. 

The president of the leading oil industry group, the American Petroleum Institute, said last week that there are “20 or 30” ways to push the export ban through Congress and win President Obama’s support, but the group has yet to endorse or oppose any potential compromises.