CNBC Sep 21, 2026
With Jeff Landry, Governor of Louisiana
A record amount of American diesel is going to Europe, and Jeff Landry said American citizens are paying for it while getting nothing back from Europe on Ukraine or Iran.
The standard objection to an export ban is that oil is fungible and the price is set globally, so keeping the barrels at home does nothing except disrupt the trade. Landry's answer is that diesel is not crude: hold the product inside the country and the domestic supply rises, which is a price effect he says shows up immediately.
"Putting in place a 90 day export ban certainly would create a supply of diesel in the country, which would cause diesel prices to fall."
Landry, the Governor of Louisiana, on CNBC, has spent his term cutting the state's severance tax on new drills by half and streamlining the permitting process for its refineries, which is the industry his proposal would act on.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 arguments that matter.
Key Takeaways
A 90-day ban on diesel exports would raise domestic supply and pull the pump price down, in Landry's account, and it is the only measure he offers that works immediately
His case against the exports is political as much as economic: Europe is buying the fuel and has done nothing for America on Ukraine or Iran
The small-refinery exemption covers about 10% of domestic fuel output, and Landry ties it directly to what farmers pay
No new refinery has been built in America in a very long time, which is why he treats the small ones as strategic rather than marginal
Golf courses in Louisiana use 40 times more water than the state's data centers, which is the comparison he brings to local opposition
Data-center jobs in Louisiana pay two to three times the state's historical average salary, and in Richland Parish the public school teachers went from lowest-paid to highest-paid
Louisiana cut its severance tax on new drills by 50%, eliminated the franchise tax and lowered corporate and personal income tax
1. A 90-Day Export Ban
The host put the standard objection first: oil is a global price, it is fungible, and the United States is stuck with whatever the world pays. Trying to hold diesel at home, he said, seemed like swimming uphill.
Landry divided his answer into what can be done now and what has to be done over years. The immediate lever is the ban.
Holding the product inside the country moves the domestic price
Putting in place a 90 day export ban certainly would create a supply of diesel in the country, which would cause diesel prices to fall.
Jeff Landry
His argument for why the exports are happening at all is about where the fuel is going and who is paying for it.
Where the diesel is going, and who he says is footing the bill
I mean, right now, a record amount of diesel is going to Europe, and Americans are subsidizing Europe's problems.
Jeff Landry
The reason he gives is the war in Ukraine and the situation in Iran, and his complaint is that Europe has done nothing to help America on either front while buying the fuel.
The sharpest version of it
But yet they're sucking the energy out of America and making American citizens pay for it.
Jeff Landry
He also wants the Strategic Petroleum Reserve run differently, and named the country he thinks is doing it better.
Who he says manages a reserve properly
Like we can do a better job of managing our SPR. That's what China is doing.
Jeff Landry
2. Why Small Refineries
The long-term half of his answer is the small-refinery exemption, which he wants made permanent. His framing is that Washington's energy rules have let domestic supply drift to global markets and left too little fuel at home.
The number he attaches to the small plants
I mean, look, we haven't built a new refinery in America in a very, very long time. That's why the small refinery exemption is so important. Those refineries account for about 10% of the domestic fuel output.
Jeff Landry
Those refineries are scattered around the country, he said, and the customer he names for them is agriculture, at a moment when commodity prices are rising and farmers need relief.
Asked about what he has changed at home, Landry said Louisiana has cut regulation to let businesses operate.
What the state did to drilling economics
We've reduced our severance tax by 50% on new drills.
Jeff Landry
He said the state has also streamlined the permitting process for its refineries.
3. Data Centers And Water
The host turned to the political fight over AI data centers, which he said both parties are now kicking around, and said he finds the town-hall opposition hard to follow given how much investment and revenue is on offer in communities that have neither.
Landry agreed it is a paradox, and said the public is not getting the whole picture. His counter-example is water.
The comparison he leads with
Nothing against golfers out there, but golf courses use 40 times more water than data centers in Louisiana.
Jeff Landry
He listed what the state has done to answer the other objection, which is cost to households: an executive order to protect ratepayers, and agreements with the hyperscalers so that the extra generation they build benefits Louisiana consumers.
What the jobs pay against what the state is used to
Right now, the jobs that they're creating here in Louisiana are sometimes 2 to 3 times more on an average yearly salary than what Louisiana has seen in the past.
Jeff Landry
On his reading the economic opportunity outweighs the remaining problems, particularly once the risks he listed have been addressed.
4. Tax Reform, Then Meta
The host said this could set Louisiana apart, and noted that the competition includes states with no income tax at all. Landry listed the changes: corporate income tax lowered, franchise tax eliminated, personal income tax lowered.
Then he gave the two projects he treats as the return on it.
The largest facility in America, and what it did to one parish's teachers
Meta's building, the largest facility in America right now, committed $50 billion to it up in Richland Parish. And by the way, the teachers, the public school teachers in Richland Parish went from the lowest paid to the highest paid in Louisiana.
Jeff Landry
The second project, and the coastal argument attached to it
Elon Musk and SpaceX just announced a $100 billion launch site right on the coast of Louisiana, an area that we need coastal protection, and their investment is going to help us.
Jeff Landry
He brought the answer back to where the segment started.
Why the energy price is the thing he keeps returning to
My concern is we don't need high energy prices to crash our economy.
Jeff Landry
Bonus Insights
Why he frames all of it as catch-up
The host suggested that some northeastern states may miss out on what Louisiana is attracting, and that this could be a boon rather than a zero-sum transfer. Landry's reply set the baseline he is working from.
Well, again, Louisiana has had some of the highest poverty rates and the lowest amount of job opportunities. And we want to fix that.
Jeff Landry
The host's own starting position
Before Landry answered anything, the host made a disclosure about his own instincts on this: that he sometimes wishes American oil could stay home and carry an American price, while accepting that the global market does not work that way. It is the same wish the governor's proposal is built on, which is why the interview turned on whether diesel behaves differently from crude.
Landry's bottom line is that the fuel price is the one variable he thinks can crash the American economy from here, and that the cure he is asking Washington for, three months without diesel exports plus a permanent exemption for the small refineries, is the only part of the energy problem that can be fixed in weeks rather than years.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Meta (Building what Landry calls the largest data center facility in America, with $50 billion committed in Richland Parish, where he says public school teachers went from the lowest paid in the state to the highest)
SpaceX (The $100 billion launch site he says was just announced on the Louisiana coast, in an area he wants coastal protection for)
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