Jeb Bush slams Obama administration in his energy plan

Jeb Bush, Republican presidential candidate, and a son and brother of two former U.S. presidents, has revealed his energy industry plan which he would promote should he get elected in November 2016.

Bush, who had been against offshore drilling in the waters of Florida while he was senator there, is now calling for the states that are in favor of drilling, such as Alaska, to have a final say on whether they would allow drilling in their territories or not. He is also slamming the current administration in the process.

“At least two states, Alaska and Virginia, have expressed an interest in further developing energy resources but have been thwarted or constrained by the Obama Administration. For instance, Alaskans overwhelmingly want to develop onshore and offshore energy resources in or near their state. Yet the President has severely limited the extent to which these lands can be explored and developed. Even more extreme, Hillary Clinton has indicated she would flatly prohibit drilling off the northern coast of Alaska,” reads a statement released on Bush’s website.

He has called for a change, saying that Washington should generally defer to the will of states and tribes.

“Their citizens and leaders are best able to weigh the benefits and costs of oil and gas development,” Bush’s plan further reads.

To remind, Shell on Monday said it would pull back from drilling offshore Alaska, after disappointing exploration results, but also as a result of uncertain regulatory environment. The move sparked joy among the environmentalists, however, Alaska’s senator Lisa Murkowski expressed her disappointment, criticizing ‘burdensome’ regulations.

Lift ban, build Keystone XL

Among other things, Bush’s energy plan calls for the lifting of the crude oil export ban, and for the start of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which would carry Canadian oil across the U.S. to refineries at the U.S. Gulf Coast. Bush also said he would reduce the current administration’s overregulation which, „discourages domestic energy production and increases gas, heating and electricity costs on families.“

“President Obama and Hillary Clinton have baldly politicized the government permitting process by opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. After seven years and an unprecedented level of environmental review, there is now no credible reason for the President to stand in the way of this privately-funded project,” Bush said in a statement.

According to the Bush energy plan, lifting the ban on crude oil exports and removing restrictions on exporting natural gas would create a million new manufacturing jobs and rapidly reduce gasoline prices.

As for the Keystone XL, building it would increase economic growth by over $3 billion and support 42,000 jobs while the pipeline is under construction, Bush claims in his energy plan.

Bush also took a swing at President Obama’s Carbon Rule, introduced to limit carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change.

He said that the Carbon Rule, „unless it is quickly addressed by the courts,“ would increase electricity prices for everyone in the near term.

Environmentalists, democrats respond

Expectedly, conservation groups responded negatively to the energy plan presented by the Texas-born presidential candidate.

Sierra Club Political Director Khalid Pitts said: „This dangerous energy plan isn’t ‘low energy’ or ‘high energy’– it’s every type of ‘dirty energy.’ This plan promises voters the world, but the truth is that the world is exactly what it would sacrifice to fatten the wallets of dirty energy conglomerates like Koch Industries–all while failing to tackle the moral imperative of the climate crisis and just days after Pope Francis made clear that this is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.’

Also responding to Bush’s energy plan, Democratic National Council’s spokeswoman Christina Freundlich released the following statement:

“If Jeb Bush’s energy plan sounds like it was written by oil companies and Dick Cheney, it’s because he is relying on former officials from his brother’s administration who would take our country back to the old policies that were in place while hard working Americans were burdened with sky-high gas prices. His dirty oil-driven plan has been tried before, and it was disastrous for the American people. Let’s be clear, Jeb Bush’s plan would give more tax breaks to the wealthy, weaken safeguards on polluters, and let Wall Street and Big Oil run free again – all while leaving the middle class out to dry.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff