The Washington Post editorial board scolded Congress for not doing enough to act on climate change. But the board later found itself at odds with its own criticism, calling on Congress to lift a ban on crude oil exports without mentioning that doing so could further contribute to global warming.

The Washington Post recently published an editorial criticizing Congress' failure to pass any legislation to cut the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to help mitigate global warming. The board commended the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for “fill[ing] Congress' irresponsible policy void,” asserting that global warming is a serious problem that calls for action. From the editorial:

Here's the reality: The world is warming, scientists say humans are responsible, the United States has contributed more than any other nation to the carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere, and the problem won't get addressed any time soon without serious U.S. buy-in and leadership. The consequences of unabated warming are somewhat uncertain -- yet the possibility of very negative, perhaps catastrophic, global outcomes is too distinct to do nothing.

This is a consistent stance at the Post -- in July, the newspaper published an editorial again reprimanding Congress for its “head-in-the-sand approach to climate change.” So it may come as a surprise to see the same editorial board asking Congress to implement a policy that would be a step backwards from climate action.

On August 7, the Washington Post published an editorial calling for the United States to increase exports of crude oil, which have been mostly illegal since the 1970s. The board asked Congress to “lift the ban” on crude oil exports “entirely,” asserting that since crude oil production has grown in the past few years to levels greater than U.S. refineries can currently handle, increasing crude exports would help “support[] U.S. profits and U.S. jobs, and to tolerate imports of crude oil that U.S. refineries can handle.”

The Post left out one thing: Lifting the ban could increase greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. An analysis from Oil Change International found that overturning the crude export ban would expand the global crude market and increase U.S. oil production by an additional 9.9 billion barrels by 2050, thereby increasing carbon dioxide emissions by up to 4.4 billion tons. The Post even acknowledged that lifting the ban would “encourage the development of oil fields and transport infrastructure,” with no mention of that development's impact on climate change.

This statement presents a tension with the board's previous position that asked Congress to take action to limit greenhouse gas emissions. And the EPA's carbon pollution plan that the Post recently praised as “filling Congress' irresponsibly policy void” could be more than negated by lifting the crude export ban. The EPA plan is expected to decrease carbon dioxide emissions by up to 383 million metric tons; lifting the ban could increase emissions by almost 12 times that amount.

The Washington Post board frequently calls for “urgent” climate action, so why is it simultaneously advocating a policy that could negate it? 

Photo at the top from Flickr user Terence Wright with a Creative Commons license.