Congressional negotiators announced late Tuesday evening that a deal has been reached on the long-awaited government spending bill. Included in the $1.1 trillion bill are provisions to lift the 40-year-old ban on the export of crude oil finally bringing an end to the heavily debated issue.
In exchange for lifting the ban, Democrat legislators won multi-year extensions for wind and solar tax credits, a three-year reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservations Fund and the exclusion of language intended to target the Obama Administration environmental rules.
The repeal of the ban will release the growing volumes of oil extracted during the course of the last couple of years due to rapidly expanding domestic output levels.
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