Jeb Bush energy plan emphasizes U.S. jobs, lower prices

By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential
candidate Jeb Bush will lay out energy policy proposals on
Tuesday that seek to spur job growth and take aim at President
Barack Obama's plan to limit carbon emissions from power plants.
In a speech at Rice Energy Inc., in Canonsburg,
Pennsylvania, Bush will give yet another detailed policy speech
on what he would try to accomplish if elected president in
November 2016.
It is part of an extended campaign approach by the former
Florida governor to present himself as a conservative policy
heavyweight as he attempts to make up ground to Donald Trump,
who has been leading in opinion polls ahead of the Republican
presidential nomination.
In details of his plan released by his campaign, Bush will
call for lifting a U.S. ban on crude oil exports and lift
restrictions on natural gas exports that have made it harder to
export energy to countries like Japan, China and the European
Union.
Lifting the ban, Bush said in a Medium post published on
Tuesday, would create "hundreds of thousands of additional jobs
and significantly lower net energy costs within two years."
Bush will vow to fight Obama's plan, released last month,
that would force U.S. power plants to reduce carbon emissions as
part of an effort to attack climate change.
The White House plan would order power plants to cut carbon
emissions 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The aim is to
encourage an aggressive shift toward renewable energy and away
from coal-fired electricity, pushing utilities to invest even
more heavily in wind and solar energy.
Industry groups and some lawmakers from states that have
relied on coal-based energy have vowed to challenge the new
requirements in the courts and through Congress.
Bush said in his post that the Obama plan "needs to be
stopped in its tracks" and that any federal rules that would
suppress domestic energy production and raise energy prices
should be addressed by the next president.
Bush will also vow to approve the Keystone Xl pipeline, the
Canada-to-Texas pipeline that the Obama administration has been
reviewing for years without approving it. Democrat Hillary
Clinton, who is seeking her party's nomination for president,
has said she opposes the pipeline.
Bush has vowed to pursue policies that would lead to 4
percent annual economic growth, and his energy plan is part of
that platform.