Monthly Archives: October 2015

An Industry Divided: Refiners & Big Oil Battle Over Crude Oil Export Ban

A refinery operated by Alon USA Energy in Big Spring, Texas. Alon is one of four US refiners that have formed a lobby to oppose major oil companies that want the ban on the export of US crude oil repealed. (Lorne Matalon)

A refinery operated by Alon USA Energy in Big Spring, Texas. Alon is one of four US refiners that have formed a lobby to oppose major oil companies that want the ban on the export of US crude oil repealed. (Lorne Matalon)

originally published by the public media reporting collaborative Inside Energy

also broadcast on the Texas Standard, a state-wide daily news program led by NPR member station KUT-Austin—another version aired on KPBS-San Diego

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MIDLAND, Texas — The price of a barrel of U.S. crude oil has plummeted by more than 50 percent since June 2014. U.S. producers claim that they’re at a competitive disadvantage because they’re restricted to selling their oil domestically at a time when they desperately need new markets to sell their mounting inventories.

Congress is now debating whether or not to lift the 1970s-era ban on crude oil exports that was made in the name of protecting national energy security.

Legislation to lift the ban has passed in the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Senate Banking Committee will attempt to craft its version shortly.

The debate is hardly cut and dried because some of the major players in the American energy sector oppose the idea.

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Experts Say Look North Not South On Border Security

 

A U.S. Border Patrol agent greets an officer from Canada's federal police, the RCMP, in Vermont steps inside the U.S. The two agencies cooperate closely on the northern border. Some analysts suggest the potential for terrorists to enter the U.S. is more pronounced on the Canada border than on the Mexico border. (Lorne Matalon)

A U.S. Border Patrol agent greets an officer from Canada’s federal police, the RCMP, in Vermont steps inside the U.S. The two agencies cooperate closely on the northern border. Some analysts suggest the potential for terrorists to enter the U.S. is more pronounced on the Canada border than on the Mexico border. (Lorne Matalon)

 

MONTREAL, Canada — The United States has fortified the border with Mexico since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in large part in the name of thwarting terrorism.

However, some analysts believe there’s a greater potential threat of terrorists entering the U.S. from the northern border with Canada than from across the southern border with Mexico.

The Islamic State (ISIS) urges supporters to carry out attacks against Western countries, including Canada, that are in the U.S.-led coalition fighting it. Following that call, two Canadian soldiers were murdered in October 2014.

First a soldier was murdered in a deliberate hit-and-run near Montreal. Then days later came a second attack that traumatized Canada.

Gunfire erupted inside Canada’s Parliament, the seat of its federal government, after the murder of a soldier outside. A jihadist sympathizer had just killed a soldier at Canada’s War Memorial a few steps away. The shooter then entered Parliament after killing that soldier.

Imagine a gunman killing an Honor Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then invading the U.S. Capitol.

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