Thread: Did Mitt Romney Just Embrace Solar And Wind Energy?

Did Mitt Romney Just Embrace Solar And Wind Energy?

Rob Wile|Aug. 23, 2012, 5:24 PM

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Mitt Romney's energy policy whitepaper contains some subtle, curious items.The headline, as we reported earlier, is that he will seek to make the U.S. energy independent by 2020, partially by expanding drilling on federal lands and offshore.

But if you dig deeper, the document is far cry from "Drill Baby Drill."

On p. 19, in the "Innovation" chapter, Romney's camp endorses expanding solar, wind and other renewable forms of energy:
"Instead of distorting the playing field, the government should be ensuring that it remains level. The same policies that will open access to land for oil, gas, and coal development can also open access for the construction of wind, solar, and hydropower facilities. Strengthening and streamlining regulations and permitting processes will benefit the development of both traditional and alternative energy sources, and encourage the use of a diverse range of fuels including natural gas in transportation."

What's more, Romney says the the government should play an active in investing in new forms of energy:
"The federal government has a role to play in facilitating innovation in the energy industry. History shows that the United States has moved forward in astonishing ways thanks to investments in basic research that have produced breakthroughs to benefit entire industries."

And he is in favor of maintaining the current renewable fuel standard, which calls for an increase to 36 billion gallons of renewable blend by 2022 from 9 billion gallons in 2008:

• "Support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources by maintaining the RFS and eliminating regulatory barriers to a diversification of the electrical grid, fuel system, or vehicle fleet"

Romney has previously said he would oppose a one-year extension of a tax credit for wind energy. So how does he square these two views?
Here, he is a bit more ambiguous:
"Instead of defining success as providing enough subsidies for an uncompetitive technology to survive in the market, success should be defined as eliminating any barriers that might prevent the best technologies from succeeding on their own."

Did Mitt Romney Just Embrace Solar And Wind Energy? - Business Insider

I noticed the other night that in a speech he said "We must make North America energy independent".

Here it says "we must make the U.S. energy independent".

Donors would benefit from Romney energy plan

By Christopher Schnaars and Ray Locker, USA TODAY

Updated 53m ago

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney's campaign and a super PAC backing him have received more than $15 million from oil, coal and other energy interests, many of which would benefit from the energy plan Romney unveiled Thursday.

At least 35 people who "bundle" donations for the Romney campaign are from the same industries, a USA TODAY analysis shows. The amount of money they raised for the campaign is unknown, because the Romney campaign does not release its bundlers or the amounts they raised. President Obama and the past two Republican presidential candidates released data on their major bundlers.

This week, Romney raised about $10 million from energy interests in fundraisers in Houston and Little Rock.

• STORY: U.S. energy independence is no longer just a pipe dream
• MORE: Full coverage of the 2012 Republican National Convention
• VIDEO: Romney: U.S. energy independence is achievable

Romney's plan, which he released during a campaign stop in Hobbs, N.M., calls for more oil drilling offshore and on federal lands. It would approve building the Keystone XL pipeline from western Canada through the Great Plains to Texas. The Obama administration has delayed making a decision on this project until after the November election.

The campaign released a 21-page paper calling for greater U.S. energy independence and noting regulatory and other hurdles faced by energy companies, including some that have given money to Romney's campaign or Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting him.

Though Romney's campaign has been supported by many oil and gas interests, the real beneficiaries of his plan are "consumers and families and workers who will get the benefit of more jobs and more affordable energy," campaign adviser Ed Gillespie said Wednesday.

T. Boone Pickens, a leader in the nation's natural gas industry, said Thursday that Romney's plan focuses too much on oil. "They miss the mark," Pickens said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "All they talk about is oil, oil drilling off the East Coast, West Coast, federal lands. … They don't mention natural gas."

Energy interests are giving Romney so much money "because they see a stark difference between him and this administration," says Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes money and politics. "This has been a vocal crowd in their disagreements with this administration."

Companies and Romney supporters that would benefit from his plan include:
•Exelon. The Illinois-based utility's recently retired CEO, John Rowe, is a Romney bundler, and the campaign's energy paper cites regulatory hurdles that have hindered the company's planned solar-generation plant in California. Federal campaign-finance records show company employes have given at least $161,000 to Romney's campaign. The Republican National Committee, however, attacked the Obama administration Thursday for being too cozy with Exelon, citing a New York Times article about the administration's aid to the company.

•Harold Hamm, chairman and CEO of Continental Resources. Hamm, a Romney bundler, has given $985,000 to Restore Our Future. The company, which supports easing drilling permits, is the main firm drilling in North Dakota's Bakken field, one of the nation's fastest-growing production areas.

•Claiborne Deming, chairman of Murphy Oil. Deming, a Romney bundler, hosted the Arkansas fundraiser this week. Murphy Oil has lobbied this year for a House bill that would make it easier to get oil drilling permits, something Romney's plan encourages. The company's website criticizes President Obama's plan to eliminate certain oil- and gas-drilling tax breaks, saying, "New taxes hurt American families." The company's latest annual report says lower oil and gas prices would have "an unfavorable impact on operating profits for its exploration and production business."

•Two oil and coal companies run by William Koch of West Palm Beach, Fla. Oxbow Carbon and Huron Carbon, have given a combined $2.75 million to Restore Our Future. The company's lobbying filings show it backs plans to delay or curtail Environmental Protection Agency regulations on emissions. The Romney plan criticizes regulations on coal-fired power plants for killing jobs and hurting the coal industry. William Koch's political activities are unrelated to those of his better-known brothers, Charles and David Koch.

Much of the fossil-fuel-related industry's unhappiness with Obama stems from some of his recent proposals. They include plans to eliminate tax breaks for oil exploration, increase regulation on coal emissions and provide government-backed loans for a variety of renewable energy companies that could potentially take business from oil, gas and coal.

However, domestic oil production has risen 15% since Obama took office in 2009.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/secure-comm...n-year-262977/

Saw a headline a couple weeks ago that Colo. is 57% windpower electric. Suddenly I understood how a friend of mine, he moved fromTX to CO, became pleased with his power bills. He pays roughly half per KWH that I payy here in TX. >o49 vs >089 and it was .119 here when he left 3 years ago. A Very large percentage of TX popwer is still produced with coal fired generators. Then too, I often wonder how much of our bill is cleanng up from Enron, yet, if any.