ENERGY

Senate Passes Bill to Lift Alaska Oil Export Ban: The Senate approved a measure 74-25 to end a 23-year-old ban on the export of crude oil from Alaska’s North Slope, which California oil producers blame for artificially deflating the market for California crude. Similar legislation is pending in the House. The Clinton Administration, which supported an end to the ban, hailed the Senate vote, signaling again that the President will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Energy Department Deputy Secretary William White said that lifting the ban could bring California as much as $230 million as its share of federal royalties, state and local taxes.