Global energy security can be a reality with crude oil exports

With the Senate recently voting to filibuster a proposed disapproval measure of the Iran nuclear deal and the 60-day clock now expired for Congress to block the deal, the way is now paved for sanctions to be lifted on Iran.  One unlikely issue that has emerged during this whole debate is current U.S. energy export policy. While energy exports and a nuclear agreement aren’t usually in the same discussion, this controversial deal brings to light the fact that the United States could potentially be the only major energy producing country that curbs the exportation of our abundant resources, specifically domestically produced crude oil.

As a leader in global affairs, it seems unbelievable that the U.S. would perpetuate a policy that limits free trade and removes a strong diplomatic tool from our arsenal. The global energy security benefits of lifting our decades-old energy trade restrictions on crude oil exports is often overlooked in the discussion of the economic benefits: increased gross domestic product (GDP), lower gas prices and job growth.  But they are equally important.

{mosads}Enacted some 40 years ago to guard against fluctuations in the global oil markets, the renaissance of American energy production over the past decade has rendered the export ban obsolete. The U.S. must now consider crude oil exports as a strategy to increase our national security by bolstering domestic economic growth, enabling a stable energy supply to our friends and allies, and curbing the power of those who would use energy as a political weapon.

Bolstering U.S. national security and generating a healthy economy are not dichotomous goals.  As a nation, we wouldn’t be in our current position as a global authority without a booming economy. The significant economic benefits that our nation and local and state economies would reap from a strong energy production sector contribute heavily to our national security. A recent ICF International study found that U.S. GDP could add $38 billion as soon as 2020 if the ban were lifted.

Additionally, sharing our crude oil with other nations will actually increase geopolitical relations with our allies. In an op-ed for Foreign Policy Magazine, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) captured perfectly the importance of ending our country’s self-imposed exile to strengthen energy security. They wrote, “The benefits to global security of allowing oil shipments to our trading partners are obvious and indisputable. Our friends in Asia, eager to comply with Western sanctions against Iran, would have a new alternative source for their energy needs. European allies, struggling to diversify away from Russia, would be able to receive U.S. domestic oil almost immediately.”

In fact, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are each more than 90 percent dependent on energy imports according to recent paper by the American Council for Capital Formation. These important allies would have little choice but to consider Iranian oil imports to meet their domestic energy needs if the United States refuses to export its abundant supplies of crude oil. By allowing U.S. energy exports, we can step up as a global energy leader to better support and protect our allies while at the same time strengthening our own economic security.

America’s success is structured on the principles of free trade and individual opportunity. Those values are the strongest tool we have to carry our message of hope to people around the world. We should not be afraid to leverage our physical resources to demonstrate such ideals. In doing so, we will offer a helping hand to our allies – all while creating opportunity here at home.

There’s growing support in both chambers of Congress for ending this misplaced ban on exporting crude oil, including recent passage of a bill by the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the possibility of a full House vote in the coming weeks. It’s time for a similar sense of urgency in the Senate, and for more members to join the likes of Murkowski and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), in the effort to repeal a law preventing the United States from achieving true energy security.

Caruso, senior adviser in the Energy and National Security program at CSIS, served as administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) from July 2002 to September 2008. The views expressed are his own.