Congress abolished the 40-year ban on oil exports this past week, a victory for oil companies and conservatives that few thought conceivable until recently. One thing made it possible: supporters absorbed the lessons of the Keystone XL pipeline, whose doom was sealed when it became a political battleground. Supporters of lifting the export ban, including oil-state Democrats, cajoled potential liberal opponents, persuading them the policy change could work in their favor. They met repeatedly with skeptical Democrats, stressing that oil prices had fallen through the floor in part due to a supply glut, so ending the ban would likely not make them soar. And they did it by offering Democrats, in the minority in both chambers, a rare chance to enact significant environmental measures and declare a victory of their own. Nearly 40 years to the day after the ban was enacted by then-President Gerald Ford, President Barack Obama […]