There currently appears to be sufficient supply of non-Iranian oil to permit foreign countries to significantly reduce their import of Iranian oil, taking into account current estimates of demand, increased production by countries other than Iran, inventories of crude oil and petroleum products, and available strategic petroleum reserves.

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However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed, " they wrote, adding that restoration and stricter enforcement of the limits in combination with reforms to improve transparency, "will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

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In addition to easing the exploration process with a simplified single permit for both oil and gas, the plan will be accompanied by a parallel effort to minimize local authority over energy projects.

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Any oil wells also would require a federal permit because they would be on the Little Missouri National Grasslands.

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Also looming is a decision whether to grant a permit to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would transport carbon-laden tar sands oil from Canada to Texas.

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Republicans planned to offer an alternative bill that included lifting the Obama administration's blanket moratorium on deepwater drilling, setting up a bipartisan commission with subpoena power to investigate the Gulf oil disaster and propose reforms, and allowing for revenue sharing for states that permit offshore drilling.

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Under the Obama administration, the time required for a permit has doubled to 307 days, while in North Dakota, where booming oil shale fracking has effectively wiped out unemployment, permitting currently takes only 10 days.

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