In his State of the Union address last January, President Obama set the goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years. The Chamber applauded this goal because, in our estimation, boosting exports is one of the best avenues to creating the 20 million jobs Americans will need over the next decade.

To help reach this objective, the president launched a new National Export Initiative to enhance the federal government’s export promotion efforts. As part of the NEI, the president has called upon the U.S. Export-Import Bank to increase aggressively the financing it makes available for exports.

So far, so good. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, the administration appears to be subordinating its export-promoting, job-creating goal to other aspirations: 

Bucyrus International Inc. said it may lose a $310 million order for mining machinery from a subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd. of India because of a decision by the U.S. Export-Import Bank against providing loan guarantees for the project.

The decision is equivalent to “throwing 1,000 jobs in the ditch,” Tim Sullivan, chief executive of the South Milwaukee, Wis., maker of mining equipment, said in an interview Friday. Bucyrus has estimated that the order would create or protect 984 jobs in 13 U.S. states…

The bank is required to consider the environmental effects of projects it backs, the official said. The mining equipment would be used for a coal mine that is to supply a new power plant in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Mr. Sullivan said that the order from Reliance was contingent on the guarantees and that he feared Reliance would turn to rival suppliers from China or Belarus. 

What’s going on here? As its web site observes, Ex-Im Bank may “grant or withhold financing support after taking into account the beneficial and adverse environmental effects of proposed transactions. Ex-Im Bank’s objective is to maintain U.S. exporters’ competitiveness in the global marketplace while ensuring that the projects it supports are environmentally responsible.”

To govern is to choose. While Ex-Im Bank’s environmental guidelines and direction received from Congress have weight, its procedures include a vote by its board of directors. In other words, the board has at least some discretion. 

But with 1,000 American jobs in the balance, the board decided that they weren’t the top priority. The Journal adds:

The decision could put President Barack Obama in an awkward spot during a planned visit to Wisconsin Tuesday and Wednesday. “This was a very bad decision,” Tom Barrett, the Democratic nominee for governor of Wisconsin, said in a statement. Mr. Barrett, currently mayor of Milwaukee, added: “We have to focus on creating jobs.” He pledged to “explore avenues to reverse the outcome.” That is likely to be difficult as there is no appeals process for votes by the Ex-Im Bank board. 

Reliance Power will still dig its mine. It will just buy the equipment from a supplier in some other country. This is a terrible missed opportunity that the United States will pay for in lost exports and lost jobs.