Mitt Romney reveals energy plan: more offshore drilling
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reveals his energy policy Thursday. The plan pushes for more offshore oil drilling but mentions little of renewable energy development. Romney said the proposal would create jobs and boost the economy.
“The net of all this, as you can see, is by 2020, we’re able to produce somewhere between 28 million barrels per day of oil and we won’t need to buy any oil from the Middle East or Venezuela or anywhere else where we don’t want to,” Romney was quoted by The New York Times as saying.
The Republican candidate is said to have close ties with big oil companies. His campaign raised about seven million dollars from industry executives earlier this week.
Obama’s campaign criticizes Romney’s energy plan.
“This isn’t a recipe for energy independence. It’s just another irresponsible scheme to help line the pockets of big oil while allowing the U.S to fall behind and cede the clean energy sector to China,” Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said, according to the Associated Press.
Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus thought Romney’s vision to be unlikely. He reminded his readers the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 due to an explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon platform. The accident resulted in catastrophic damage to marine life.
