Ogilvy Government Relations represents the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance, a top advocate for the development of America's shale oil energy resources.

eeiaBud Albright leads the charge for Ogilvy in its task to lobby in support of lifting the ban on the export of US oil.

He's a former Energy Dept. undersecretary, CenterPoint Energy senior VP-policy and government affairs and Reliant Energy DC lobbyist.

The Alliance testified before the House Small Business Committee and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that removing restrictions on US crude exports would create 440K new jobs by 2018 at suppliers to the shale oil and gas sectors and result in an additional $64B in GDP group.

Dropping the ban, it contends, would fuel downward pressures on domestic fuel prices and provide US trading partners an alternative and secure energy provider.

The Alliance criticizes the US energy export ban as an obsolete vestige of the oil-tight 1970s, when the country was at the mercy of OPEC suppliers.

The Alliance represents a mix of trade and labor groups that participate in the shale development sector.

The group includes the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers, Industrial Minerals Assn., International Union of Operating Engineers, Portland Cement Assn., National Assn. of Chemical Distributors and Laborers International Union of North America.