Energy has become an important issue in the American presidential campaign.
Gasoline and price cement mill price costs that affect almost all Americans, have
risen sharply in recent months.
This week, former Massachusetts governor Mitt
Romney criticized President Obama's energy policy. In a newspaper commentary, he
said the president has let prices rise while placing too many requirements on
the energy industry.
One issue in the political debate is a project proposed
by the Canadian company Transcanada. Its Keystone XL pipeline would stretch more
than three thousand kilometers from Alberta, Canada to several oil processing
centers in the United States. If completed, the project would cost about
thirteen billion dollars and transport over one million barrels of oil a
day.
Republicans have criticized President Obama for delaying work on the oil
pipeline. Last Saturday, Congressman Doc Hastings spoke for the Republican Party
to the American people. He said the party wants to use all of the nation's
energy resources. He called it an all-of-the-above approach. That includes both
the Keystone XL pipeline and oil exploration in coastal waters.
DOC HASTINGS:
"Republicans have followed through on our all-of-the-above approach and passed
through the house bi-partisan reforms that break down government barriers to our
natural resources. While the president has closed off new areas for off-shore
drilling, the House has passed legislation that would open the most promising
areas off-shore to exploration and production."
On Wednesday, the president
spoke at a Daimler Truck factory in North Carolina. He said more oil exploration
is not an easy answer to the nation's energy problems.
Workers at the North
Carolina factory build alternative fuel vehicles. Mr. Obama told them that new
sources of energy mean more jobs.
BARACK OBAMA: "We can't just rely on fossil
fuels from the last century. We've got to continually develop new sources of
energy and that's why we've made investments that have nearly doubled the use of
clean, renewable energies in this country. And thousands of Americans have jobs
because of it."
The president has called for tax breaks on clean energy
vehicles and urged local governments to buy them. Mister Obama has also called
for cutting costs. Last week, he asked lawmakers to end four billion dollars in
support for the oil and gas industries.
