US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney sparred over who truly has the most jobs-friendly "all-of-the-above" energy plan, with Romney saying the president is untrustworthy when it comes to supporting more fossil fuels development, while Obama accused the former Massachusetts governor of being a puppet of the oil and gas industry.
Responding to a question about gasoline prices during a live televised debate, Obama touted the rising domestic oil and gas production his administration has overseen, while also highlighting his investments in clean energy, including biofuels and wind and solar power.
But beyond increasing energy supply, he said his focus on conservation, including doubling vehicle mileage standards, would help bring down gasoline prices. The Obama administration in August announced that cars would be required to achieve 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
"We've also got to continue to figure out how we have efficient energy, because ultimately that's how we're going to lower demand, and that's what's going to keep gas prices lower," Obama said during the town hall-style debate hosted by Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
But Romney dismissed Obama's oft-repeated claims that oil and gas production in the US is at its highest levels in more than a decade, noting that much of those gains have come on private land, not public.
He criticized the president for cutting drilling permits for federal lands and actively opposing fossil fuel development, using as an example three oil companies operating in North Dakota's Bakken shale that were sued by the Obama administration for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the deaths of several birds that had got into wastewater pits.
The US District Court in North Dakota later threw out the suit.
"Let's look at the president's policies, not just the rhetoric," Romney said. "What we don't need is our president keeping us from taking advantage of oil, coal and gas. This has not been Mr. Oil, Mr. Gas or Mr. Coal. Talk to the people working in those industries."
ROMNEY PROMISES MORE DRILLING
Romney said if he is elected, he would issue more permits and licenses for drilling on public land. He would also approve the 1,170-mile Keystone XL pipeline that would bring crude into the US from Canadian tar sands.
Obama first delayed approval of the pipeline over environmental concerns, then later denied the permit after congressional Republicans passed a bill that would force an expedited decision.
"How in the world the president said no to that pipeline, I will never know," Romney said. "I don't think anybody really believes that you're going to be a person who's pushing for oil, gas and coal."
Obama, however, pointed out that Romney has not always been friendly to the coal industry, recalling a speech the former Massachusetts governor made in which he pointed at a coal-fired power plant and vowed to close it because burning coal "kills people."
"Now suddenly you're a big champion of coal," Obama said. "What I've tried to do is be consistent. With respect to something like coal, we made the largest investments in clean coal technology, to make sure that even as we're producing more coal, we're producing it cleaner and smarter. Same thing with oil, same thing with natural gas."
OBAMA TOUTS CLEAN ENERGY
Obama also accused Romney of being hostile to clean-energy development, noting his opposition to extending a key tax credit for the wind industry.
Obama has repeatedly called on Congress to extend the 2.2-cents-per-kWh production tax credit for wind power, which expires at the end of the year, saying the industry is a green jobs leader that will help the US stay globally competitive with countries like China and Germany that are heavily supporting their alternative energy industries.
"I'm not going to cede those jobs of the future to those countries," he said. "I expect those new energy sources to be built right here in the United States."
Romney countered that under Obama, energy prices have risen due to overregulation and an unwillingness to tap even further into domestic fossil fuels. Higher energy prices have led to manufacturing job losses, he said, which his energy plan to make North America "energy independent" by 2020 would reverse.
"Look, I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables. I believe very much in our renewable capabilities," Romney said. "If we do what I'm planning on doing, which is getting North America energy independence within eight years, you're going to see manufacturing jobs come back, because our energy is low cost."
Obama and Romney are scheduled to debate for the third and final time on October 22 in Boca Raton, Florida. The election is November 6.
