WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has approved a sweeping bill to boost U.S. energy production, lift a four-decade ban on crude oil exports and modernize the aging electric grid. The vote was 249-174. The bill also would speed natural gas exports and hasten approval of natural gas pipelines across public lands. It also would advance cross-border projects such as the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which lingered for more than seven years before being rejected last month by President Barack Obama. The White House has threatened a veto. Passage of the legislation comes just days after Obama traveled to Paris for an international conference on climate change. Administration officials are pressing for a far-reaching agreement designed to put the world on a path toward reducing the carbon pollution blamed for global warming.
