Romney plans to make U.S. energy independent by 2020

Washington - Mitt Romney has an ambitious plan to make America energy independent by 2010. The Republican presidential candidate seeks to compare his plan to Mr. Obama’s energy record.

Obama has been criticized for standing by a failed “green” energy plan that includes continued energy dependence and hundreds of millions of dollars lost by Solyndra and other “green” energy companies. Romney said his plan would bring energy independence to North America in less than 10 years. If elected, Romney would support an initiative to greatly increase the production of oil and natural gas from both federal lands and the U.S. coast, according to a Reuters report. Romney is set to present his plan at a truck supply business in Hobbs, New Mexico on Thursday. Romney is contrasting stark differences between his proposed policies and Obama’s record that has the U.S. importing more of its energy from the Middle East and other regions of the world. Romney says his energy policies would spark job growth in the United States while Mr. Obama’s have cost jobs here while creating jobs in exporting countries. While Mr. Obama has said fossil fuels are yesterday’s energies, gas prices at the pump have shot up during his presidency, remained high, and are on the rise again. Mr. Obama refused to allow the U.S. to pull permits and join Canada in constructing the Keystone pipeline through the U.S. The pipeline would carry crude to U.S. refineries in the south. Mr. Romney says he would approve that project with Canada. Romney's energy policies would increase production of carbon-based resources, like oil, gas and coal. Environmentalists on the left and the Obama administration blame such energy production for global warming and have opted for wind farms and solar panels among other “green” energies. However, alternative energies may be decades from producing the energy required for industry and consumers in the U.S. Romney has been meeting with oil executives and technicians from the oil industry in Texas prior to finalizing his presentation on Thursday and has shown support for coal and natural gas exploration and production during his campaign. The Republican candidate predicts that his energy plan, fully implemented, will create 3 million jobs in energy sectors and related industries, an integral part of his bigger plans to create 12 million jobs during a Romney presidency. "I want every American who wants a good job to be able to have one," Romney told Republicans at a fund-raising event in Little Rock on Wednesday. Romney would also open up areas off the U.S. east coast to oil exploration and reverse Obama's decision to suspend development off the coast of Virginia following the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Romney’s team says it will promote and support development of alternative fuels but not through government guaranteed loans like the one to Solyndra, a solar panel company that lost over a half billion in taxpayer dollars when it went bankrupt within a year of opening its doors. Better use of the U.S. energy supply, according to Republicans, will increase jobs for Americans providing for jobs beat back a persistent unemployment rates that have remained over 8 percent through much of Obama’s term.