Mass. group sounds alarm over lifting oil export ban
The $1.1 trillion spending bill that cleared the U.S. House Friday with support from Massachusetts delegation members includes tax credit extensions for solar and wind energy industries but those measures are "dramatically overshadowed" by the lifting of a decades-old ban on U.S. oil exports to foreign countries, according to a local environmental organization.
"It's an enormous incentive to keep drilling more," Conservation Law Foundation spokesman Josh Block told the News Service Friday morning, adding that he expects the bill to clear the Senate on Friday.
The bill provides a four to six-year extension of tax credits for solar and wind power.
“In the span of one week, the United States signed an international agreement aimed at closing the door on fossil fuels and passed a federal budget that opens the door even wider,” CLF President Bradley Campbell said in a statement. “Paris laid the groundwork for real, measurable progress in addressing climate change, and it’s up to our leaders to see that vision realized. Today, we failed our first test. The extension of incentives for wind and solar power is certainly critical to our nation’s economic future. However, those admirable elements are once again undermined by a Congress that consistently kowtows to the whims of the oil executives funding their campaigns.”
Environment America estimates the bill and companion tax legislation add $830 billion in tax breaks over ten years.
Asked if the foundation was against the overall bill, Block called the legislation a "compromise" and said, "That's a more difficult question to answer. We're against elements of the bill."
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