Jeb Bush will call for lighter regulation of the energy sector and for more local control of natural resources when he delivers his energy plan Tuesday at a natural gas company in Western Pennsylvania.
The Republican presidential candidate will also praise the advances of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking, a position that puts him in line with many in his party but squarely opposed to environmental activists. And he’ll call for lifting restrictions on the export of crude oil and promote exporting natural gas to non-Free Trade Agreement countries such as Japan, China and the European Union.
Bush regularly touts the innovation of fracking on the campaign trail, describing it as part of an “energy revolution” that could significantly boost growth. His speech will takes place at Rice Energy, Inc., in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, an oil and gas company that gets some of its gas through fracking, and, according to the campaign, would benefit from Bush’s policies.
The company and its subsidiaries have been subject to 121 violations with the state Department of Environmental Protection and amassed more than half a million dollars in fines since 2010, according to the Huffington Post.
Bush, the former governor of Florida, argues that companies like Rice face too many regulations, something he argues holds back energy growth. One of the biggest barriers by the federal government in his eyes is the Keystone XL pipeline, which would complete a 3,800-mile pipeline network that runs from Canada to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Opponents of the project cite environmental concerns and worries about the impact on tribal communities near the pipeline, but proponents, like Bush, say that the finished project would create thousands of jobs and contribute to economic output.
His campaign is publishing a preview of the speech on Medium Tuesday that hits President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — both of whom oppose the pipeline — for holding up the project.
“President Obama and Hillary Clinton have baldly politicized the government permitting process by opposing the Keystone XL pipeline,” the post will read. “After seven years and an unprecedented level of environmental review, there is now no credible reason for the President to stand in the way of this privately funded project.”
It’s all part of what Bush considers federal overreach that limits state and tribal use of natural resources. Bush frequently criticizes Obama’s use of executive orders to create new rules, like standards for carbon plants and limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
He also disagrees with the overwriting of state and tribal standards for hydraulic fracking and pledges to stop some of Obama’s regulations “in their tracks.”
The Medium post, however, makes no mention of the Obama administration giving approval to Shell earlier this year to drill in the Arctic waters off the coast of Alaska, a decision that angered environmental activists in Obama’s base.
Instead, the post focuses on Clinton, who made her first major break with the President while on the campaign trail by disagreeing with Obama’s decision to allow Arctic drilling.
“Even more extreme, Hillary Clinton has indicated she would flatly prohibit drilling off the northern coast of Alaska,” the post will read.
