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          CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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               WHEREAS, The efficient exploration, production, and  | 
      
      
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        transportation of oil in Texas prevents waste of the state's  | 
      
      
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        natural resources, contributes to the health, welfare, and safety  | 
      
      
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        of the general public, and promotes the prosperity of the state; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, The tax revenues and economic prosperity deriving  | 
      
      
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        from this Texas energy renaissance have greatly benefited Texas  | 
      
      
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        public schools, higher education, critical infrastructure  | 
      
      
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        development, and public health and safety programs; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Improved technologies and abundant resources have  | 
      
      
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        made America the world's leading oil and natural gas producer,  | 
      
      
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        overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, The 1970s-era federal law prohibiting crude oil  | 
      
      
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        exports is a relic from an era of scarcity and flawed price control  | 
      
      
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        policies; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Allowing American crude oil exports will strengthen  | 
      
      
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        U.S. geopolitical influence by giving our trading partners a more  | 
      
      
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        secure source of supply, and allowing the export of American crude  | 
      
      
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        oil will make our allies less dependent on crude oil from Russia and  | 
      
      
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        the Middle East; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, The world's other major developed nations allow  | 
      
      
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        crude oil exports, making America the only nation that does not take  | 
      
      
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        full advantage of trading a valuable resource in what is an  | 
      
      
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        otherwise global free market; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Crude oil exports will benefit America's national  | 
      
      
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        security interests by decreasing the likelihood that global oil  | 
      
      
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        supply can be used internationally as a strategic weapon; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Numerous studies have found that allowing American  | 
      
      
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        crude oil into the world's free market will benefit U.S. trade and  | 
      
      
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        American consumers while creating more high-paying jobs for Texans  | 
      
      
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        to fill; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, According to an analysis by the American Petroleum  | 
      
      
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        Institute, Texas will lead all states in job growth following the  | 
      
      
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        repeal of the ban, with an estimated 40,291 jobs by 2020; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Other studies have similarly found tremendous  | 
      
      
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        prospective GDP growth from lifting the 1970s-era ban; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, The United States is the largest exporter of refined  | 
      
      
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        petroleum products and would benefit even more substantially from  | 
      
      
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        the export of both crude oil and refined petroleum products; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, At least seven independent studies have confirmed  | 
      
      
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        that repealing the ban on American crude oil exports will lower U.S.  | 
      
      
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        gas prices, benefiting Texas consumers and businesses; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Thousands of small and large Texas businesses that  | 
      
      
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        support oil and gas development will benefit from ongoing  | 
      
      
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        production; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Manufacturers will benefit from less volatility in  | 
      
      
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        energy costs; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, The technology and brainpower behind the American  | 
      
      
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        energy renaissance was mostly pioneered in Texas by Texans; and | 
      
      
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               WHEREAS, Encouraging a global marketplace that is more free  | 
      
      
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        from artificial barriers will better allow the export of Texas  | 
      
      
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        leadership and expertise, which will also ultimately economically  | 
      
      
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        benefit Texas, the rest of the United States, and our friends around  | 
      
      
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        the world; now, therefore, be it | 
      
      
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               RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas  | 
      
      
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        hereby urge the United States Congress and the president of the  | 
      
      
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        United States to recognize that crude oil exports and free trade are  | 
      
      
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        in the national interest and take all necessary steps to eliminate  | 
      
      
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        the current ban on crude oil exports; and, be it further | 
      
      
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               RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official  | 
      
      
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        copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to  | 
      
      
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        the U.S. secretary of commerce, to the U.S. secretary of energy, to  | 
      
      
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        the majority leader of the Senate and the speaker of the House of  | 
      
      
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        Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the  | 
      
      
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        members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that  | 
      
      
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        this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a  | 
      
      
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        memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |