Promises, promises. Mitt Romney certainly knows which camp he's beholden to ...
Mitt Romney Energy Plan Favors Big Donors In Oil, Gas And Coal Industries
by Paul Blumenthal, huffingtonpost.com -- 08/24/2012
On Tuesday night at a $7 million fundraiser hosted by Exxon Mobil chief executive Rex Tillerson and attended by 125 guests, many of them executives in the oil and gas industry, Mitt Romney declined to lay out his energy plan, stating that he didn't want to talk about it with reporters in the room. Two days later, before a crowd wearing a mix of hardhats and cowboy hats in Hobbs, N.M., Romney unveiled his energy plan, which makes no mention of climate change and focuses on reaching energy independence by 2020 through increased extraction and use of oil, gas and coal, accompanied by reduced regulation for these industries.The plan underlines the fact that the Republican Party and the oil, gas and coal industries, long in agreement on policy and ideology, have grown closer than ever before. Romney, whose top energy adviser is the wealthiest oilman in the country, is on pace to raise more money from these industries than either George W. Bush or Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) did when he ran for president. The industries are also pumping millions into the new unlimited money vehicles, super PACs and dark money nonprofits, that are spending tens of millions of dollars per month to influence the election.
[...]The billionaire energy titans, David and Charles Koch, plan to spend more than $100 million through their nonprofit Americans for Prosperity and other groups, none of which will disclose their donors, to defeat President Barack Obama. The Kochs are opposed to climate science that says that fossil fuel use by humans is to blame for the rise in global temperatures and have spent millions to convince politicians and the public that climate science is false. David Koch hosted a fundraiser for Romney in the Hamptons back in June that brought in millions for the presidential hopeful's campaign.
[...]A central part of the plan is taking the power to permit and license new onshore drilling on federal lands out of the hands of the federal government and putting it into the hands of the states. That means that states like Alaska or North Dakota, which is enjoying a massive oil boom under the current regulatory regime, would be able to allow drilling on federal lands with no oversight from Washington.
North Dakota stands out, in particular, as it is where Romney's top energy adviser, oil billionaire Harold Hamm, is making his fortune. Hamm, whose stump speech is only three words, "Beat Barack Obama," has given $985,000 to Restore Our Future and raised money for the Romney campaign. [...]
Meet the New Boss, same as the last Republican Big Oil Boss ...
Financed in large part by you, and those higher prices at the pump -- isn't the oil-subsidized Free Market swell?
Golly-gee and Mitt Romney promises even more of the same ... if we choose him ...