White House hopeful Mitt Romney was to unveil an energy plan yesterday that would empower US states to control drilling on federal lands he says could raise trillions of US dollars in government revenue.
The proposal, which repeats Romney’s call for energy independence by 2020, envisions “aggressively” opening new offshore areas for drilling, beginning with waters off the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas, streamlining the regulatory approval process and revitalizing nuclear power.
“Romney’s path forward would establish America as an energy superpower in the 21st century,” according to the 21-page paper released late on Wednesday that cites dozens of research reports and analysis by firms including CitiBank and Raymond James.
Romney routinely accuses US President Barack Obama, his rival in the Nov. 6 election, of stifling US energy production through excessive regulation, overly burdensome environmental restrictions and limits on energy exploration, including drilling offshore and on federal lands.
Romney was set to formally unveil the plan, which includes approving the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil from Canada to US refineries, at a campaign stop in Hobbs, New Mexico.
The two candidates have made their respective energy cases recently as they campaigned in battleground states like Ohio, where Romney touted clean coal as an arrow in his energy quiver.
In Iowa, Obama pointed to the Midwestern state’s thousands of wind turbines as part of successful efforts to harness wind energy.
Romney has complained bitterly about what he describes as the Obama administration’s failure to keep up with technological advances in the private sector or to streamline the permitting process.
“In the midst of the energy revolution taking place on state and privately-held lands across America, oil and gas production on federal lands somehow plummeted last year,” his plan said, adding that Obama has moved to shut down oil, gas and coal production “in pursuit of his own alternative energy agenda.”
A Romney administration would seek such newer energy sources including biofuels and solar, but also turn back to hydropower, clean coal and nuclear energy.
“His approach would be to break down the barriers that stand in the way of these technologies,” Romney domestic policy director Oren Cass told reporters. “The challenge in getting there is not about the resources we have, it’s not about the technology we have; it’s about the government that we have.”
One of the new proposals would allow states to control energy development on federal lands within their borders, a move Romney says would open new areas to energy development, and speed up permit approvals for new energy projects.
The plan is certain to be controversial with environmental groups eager to preserve protected areas, and the Romney campaign did include a statement in its proposal excluding “lands specially designated off-limits.”
However, it is clear in its intent to launch an economic boon.
“The lease payments, royalties and taxes paid to the American people in return for the development of the nation’s resources can yield literally trillions of dollars in new government revenue,” the white paper said.
It cited a report by the conservative Manhattan Institute think tank that predicted an expanded hydrocarbon plan over the next two decades could generate “US$1 trillion to US$2 trillion in tax receipts to federal and local governments.”
Romney’s six-point agenda, which includes pursuing a North America energy partnership with Canada and Mexico, aims to create more than 3 million new jobs, add more than US$500 billion to the GDP and lower energy costs for business and families.
Big oil is keen on a Romney presidency. He has long pushed for an expansion of exploration and drilling and an easing of industry regulations that he says restrict corporations and stunt job growth.
Romney raised as much as US$7 million in a single day of fundraising on Tuesday at two events in Texas, home of the US oil industry.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the