UPDATE 1-Jeb Bush energy plan emphasizes U.S. jobs, lower prices

(Recasts with speech delivered; adds quotes from speech,
comment from environmentalist, background)
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential
candidate Jeb Bush outlined an energy plan on Tuesday that would
seek to take greater advantage of booming U.S. oil and natural
gas supplies to boost jobs and economic growth.
In a speech at Rice Energy Inc., in Canonsburg,
Pennsylvania, Bush gave yet another detailed policy speech,
presenting himself as a policy heavyweight in a Republican field
so far led by Donald Trump.
In fact, Bush used Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) to tweak Trump for releasing a
tax reform plan on Monday that Bush said resembled his own plan.
"Finally saw Donald's 'tax plan.' Looks familiar! I'm
flattered," Bush said.
Under the energy plan Bush said he would adopt if elected
president in November 2016, he would lift a decades-old U.S. ban
on crude oil exports and lift restrictions on natural gas
exports. That would allow exports to countries like Japan, China
and the European Union.
He said these actions, plus reducing regulations and
allowing states more control over offshore drilling rights,
would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and lower energy
costs.
"We need to lift the ban on crude oil exports. It was
designed in 1973 at a time when we had an oil embargo. It might
have made sense then, I'm not sure it did. It makes no sense
now," Bush said.
Bush's proposal comes at a time when U.S. crude prices have
tumbled, losing more than half their value during the past year
under pressure from a global supply glut. U.S. oil production
companies have cut back producing in less profitable formations
and many have pushed Congress to lift restrictions on oil
exports.
In a Medium post that Bush wrote to lay out his energy
platform, he said he would fight President Barack Obama's plan
to force U.S. power plants to reduce carbon emissions as part of
an effort to attack climate change.
Obama's aim is to encourage an aggressive shift toward
renewable energy and away from coal-fired electricity, pushing
utilities to invest more heavily in wind and solar energy.
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.
Environmental groups were not pleased. Sierra Club political
director Khalid Pitts said Bush's plan fails to tackle "the
moral imperative of the climate crisis and just days after Pope
Francis made clear that this is one of the greatest challenges
facing humanity."
Bush vowed 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.