Mitt Romney Energy Plan

Mitt Romney released his new energy plant in a white paper and it focuses on developing domestic fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal. Romney's plan would make states the custodian of energy production on federal lands within their borders and allow them to implement their own federally-approved leasing practices. Such a move would effectively shift responsibility for permitting, leasing and environmental regulation from the Department of the Interior to states, with the hope of speeding energy development by cutting red tape.

Romney's plan calls for reaching North American energy independence by 2020, primarily through expansion of traditional fossil fuels. The United States is currently the world's third largest oil producer, which Romney would hope to expand. The U.S. also currently imports more than half its oil from countries in the Western Hemisphere, with Canada making up a 29-percent share. According to Romney, those imports could be increased through greater cooperation and by the immediate approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and similar projects.

The Romney includes greenlighting increased offshore drilling, slowed after 2009's BP oil spill disaster, particularly off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.

The GOP challenger's plan pays little attention to renewable fuels like wind and solar power.  Romney's plan includes continued research support for alternative fuels, but would have wind and solar generation succeed or fail on their own, without government subsidies or loan guarantees.
President Obama makes a contrasting argument about continued oil industry tax subsidies, arguing that the highly profitable major oil companies don't need the tax breaks, the extension of which is supported by Romney. (NBC News)