"Tests Showed Rail Defect 2 Months Before W.Va. Oil Train Derailed"

"WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted Friday to end the 40-year-old ban on exporting American oil to foreign nations, launching a showdown with the Senate and the president in the nation’s latest battle over energy and climate change.

The ban was a response to the 1970s Arab oil embargo, ostensibly to protect Americans from gasoline shortages and price spikes. The oil industry is lobbying furiously to end the ban, calling it outdated in an era of enormous U.S. oil production and saying that exports would spur more drilling.

The industry won a major victory when a bill by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, to end the ban passed 261-159, with 26 Democrats joining 235 Republicans in favor. Barton argued the bill would lead to the creation of jobs nationwide."

Curtis Tate reports for the McClatchy Washington Bureau October 9, 2015.