Presidential candidate Mitt Romney
unveiled his energy plan
Wednesday evening, which promises to "aggressively" open new offshore
areas for drilling, such as the waters off of Virginia and the
Carolinas, as well as new sites on federal lands. The plan also proposes
to expedite the drilling permit approval process through limiting
regulations, increase nuclear power, and increase coal production.
US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks during a
campaign event at LeClaire Manufacturing in Bettendorf, Iowa, on August
22. Romney will unveil an energy plan Thursday that would empower US
states to control drilling on federal lands he says could raise
trillions of dollars in government revenue. (AFP Photo/Jewel Samad) A
key portion of the plan also includes approving the long-delayed
Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Canada to US refineries.
Subsequently,
according to the
New York Times,
Romney has raised a considerable amount of campaign money from donors
with ties to the oil industry. Over the past two days alone, Romney
banked nearly $10 million in oil money: $6 million to $7 million Tuesday
from two fund-raisers in Texas (in Houston and Midland), and $2 million
at a fund-raiser Wednesday in Little Rock, Ark.
Regarding Romney's plan, David Dayen
writes at FireDogLake today:
There’s a “drill-baby-drill” section urging an opening of as many
offshore sites for development as possible; a “state’s rights” section
that would devolve onshore development down to the states (so good luck
if you live in Texas or the Plains or the Deep South); a “no more
Solyndras” section on the facilitation of “private-sector-led
development” of new energy technologies; and a “stop the EPA” section
that stresses “transparency and fairness” in permitting and regulations.
There’s also a section on accurately assessing current energy
resources, the idea being that there’s all this undiscovered oil in
America that the government is deliberately hiding.
Romney has also promised extensive subsidies for the oil and gas
industry, "a waste of around $40 billion that could go to alternative
energy development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Dayen adds.
The proposal would allow states to control, and have the final say
over, energy development on federal lands within their borders, meaning
federal preserves and other protected areas will be in danger in
pro-drilling states.
The Obama campaign released a statement from Federico Peña, a
secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, criticizing Romney’s
drill-heavy plan: “We will never reach energy independence by turning
our backs on homegrown renewable energy and better auto mileage.”
However, while pursuing development in the renewable energy sector,
the Obama administration has also pursued vast amounts of domestic oil
and gas drilling. Oil production is currently up on onshore and offshore
sites and the development of natural gas, through proceedures such as
fracking, has continued to flourish through the current administration.
A
New York Times exposé
revealed earlier this year
that Obama has been eager to open a gateway to arctic drilling that
members of his own energy and climate change advisory panel thought was
both surprising and "improbable".
Obama has consistently sought to clear regulatory pathways to allow
oil companies -- specifically a proposal by oil giant Shell -- to start
drilling test wells off the Alaskan coast.
In June the Obama administration
released a five year plan
to dramatically expand offshore oil drilling including 15 lease sales
in six offshore areas, including the Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas,
where an oil spill in remote areas would be nearly impossible to clean
up, and portions of the Gulf of Mexico near areas where development has
so far been off-limits.
Romney will detail his new energy plan at a campaign stop in Hobbs, New Mexico on Thursday.
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