Markey, Wyden to Obama: You Have the Authority to Limit American Natural Gas Exports

Democrats Ask Obama to Put Interests of U.S. Energy Consumers Over Energy Company Profits

WASHINGTON (May 31, 2012) – Two of Congress’s leading voices on U.S. energy policy today called on President Barack Obama to use his existing authority to limit the export of America’s energy resources. In a letter, Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and U.S.. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, explain that when it comes to sending U.S. energy resources abroad, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 gives the president the authority to create rules that elevate national interests over corporate profits. 

Wyden and Markey encourage the president to use this existing authority to prevent the export of energy commodities – especially natural gas – explaining that while allowing energy companies to export U.S. natural resources would be highly profitable for energy companies, it would lead to higher prices for American consumers and “harm the recovery of key industrial sectors that are so vital to this country’s overall economic well-being.”

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.