Obama campaign strikes back at Romney on green energy

{mosads}“President Obama’s investments in clean energy — along with the loan guarantee program established under the Bush administration that Romney now attacks — have supported 200,000 jobs in the clean energy sector and have helped bring our dependence on foreign oil to a 16-year low,” she said.

The Romney web video released Tuesday attacks the White House over the bankruptcy of the taxpayer-backed advanced solar panel manufacturing company Solyndra, and highlights financial headwinds facing other Energy Department-backed companies.

It’s part of a wider attack by Romney on energy policies that Republicans say place too many limits on domestic fossil fuels production. The White House has parried those attacks by noting that oil and natural gas production have been rising in recent years.

Romney’s energy and environmental platform calls for stripping EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and expanding oil-and-gas leasing to include areas that are currently off limits, including the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, among other measures.

On green energy, Romney says his policies would emphasize basic research.

“We should not be in the business of steering investment toward particular politically favored approaches. That is a recipe for both time and money wasted on projects that do not bring us dividends,” his campaign website states.

The Obama campaign, for its part, is also seeking to turn Romney’s vow to try and repeal the Dodd-Frank financial reform law into a political liability when it comes to energy, noting that the law requires new limits on oil market speculation.

“While Romney would do the bidding of his Big Oil donors by providing massive tax breaks for big oil companies, eliminating protections against Wall Street speculators who manipulate oil prices, and turning our backs on fuel efficiency standards, President Obama has refused to cede the clean energy market to China,” Smith said.