NDPC Vice President Kari Cutting to
appear before U.S. House Committee on Agriculture to Urge Repeal of Crude
Export Ban
Washington,
D.C. – Kari Cutting, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council
(NDPC) appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture today,
Wednesday, July 8, to urge lawmakers to lift the ban on exporting crude oil and
to highlight the positive economic impacts oil and gas development has had on rural
communities, especially in North Dakota.
“In 2006,
horizontal drilling technology unlocked the Bakken, resulting in a surge of oil
and gas production, making North Dakota equivalent to the nineteenth largest
oil producing country,” says Cutting. “With development came a rural economic
renaissance for our state. Once shrinking rural communities are now growing, as
new people move to the state and others return home to be closer to family. Oil
development has helped supplement incomes for many local farmers and ranchers
who once worried about holding on to the family farm. A new diesel refinery
that recently began operating and proposed fertilizer plants and other
value-added projects will help further lower input costs for ag producers
further helping rural growth.”
“But this rural
renaissance is being threatened by foreign entities not always friendly to the
United States and by restrictions imposed on the sale of oil abroad. The U.S.
government should lift the ban on crude oil exports and allow oil produced in
places like North Dakota to reach global markets. Lifting the ban on crude oil
exports would immediately restore our competitiveness and revive the
renaissance in rural America. Not only would rural America prosper, but
all U.S. citizens would benefit from lifting the ban.”
Cutting’s prepared testimony for the hearing is attached.