Romney trumpets energy proposals in Colorado FORT LUPTON, COLO. - Standing in front of an oil well, Mitt Romney blasted President Obama's energy policy Wednesday, saying that he was taking credit for job creation that he is not responsible for while suppressing domestic energy production. I recognize that what you're seeing in terms of growth of the energy sector is happening in places like this, where men and women working in oil, coal, gas, are able to create jobs, help keep the cost of energy down to the extent that we can -- that's good not only for American families, it's good for American enterprise and manufacturing. Now the president tries to take credit for the fact that oil production is up. I'd like to take credit for the fact that when I was governor the Red Sox won the World Series," Romney told scores of supporters gathered in a pastoral field in this suburb of Denver. But, neither one of those would be the case. It was not the president's policies that led to oil production being up. This is private land and private leases. Obama's campaign countered that Romney was being "dishonest" about the president's energy record, and that under his watch production of domestic oil, natural gas and renewable energy have all grown, and argued that Romney's policies favor oil companies at the expense of working Americans. "The real question is why Mitt Romney has embraced a backward-looking strategy of pushing to give more tax breaks to the big oil and gas companies and eliminate protections against Wall Street speculators manipulating oil prices," said spokeswoman Lis Smith. "These policies may help the big oil donors that Mitt Romney has cultivated, but they will do nothing to relieve middle-class families" pain at the pump." Romney was making his remarks standing in Spindle field, home to an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil, with snow-capped mountains in the distance. Through conventional drilling and horizontal drilling, some 50 million barrels have been pulled from the ground, as well as natural gas. And he made a point of saying that while many people think of large Texas oil companies when they think of oil production, it is also produced by smaller business such as this one, K. P. Kauffman Co., which has 200 employees. The presumptive GOP nominee said that Obama's policies have favored alternative energy while thwarting domestic production of fossil fuels, harming the nation's economy and families. "People are having tough times, and if we want to help the American people it is by not by, by just investing our future in wind and solar," Romney said. I like wind and solar. The president says he likes all-of-the-above. I tried to figure out what he means by that because he's not helping oil, he's not helping gas, he's not helping coal. Then I figured it out, he only likes the sources of energy that come from above the ground, not those that come from below the ground like oil and gas and coal. If I'm president, I can tell you. I'm going to be committed to all the energy, whether it comes above the ground or below the ground. We need to get American energy secure. Romney said if elected, he would expand leases on public land, increase production in the Gulf of Mexico and the outer continental shelf, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. He said he would have states regulate fracking rather than the federal government. Continuing a line of attack that Romney began raising Tuesday, Romney tried to tie the president's policies of yesteryear with those favored by old-school Democrats. "You see, liberals in the past thought we didn't have that much energy in this country and therefore we would have to go begging around the world to the people that have it," he said. But you understand through new technology ... horizontal drilling technology, fracking technology, we're able to get vast new resources of energy in this country. The president keeps saying oh, we only have 2% of the world's oil reserves. We have massively more energy than that in oil, coal and gas. This is a recognition that finally has to come to the White House, because it's coming to the people across this country. Original source: Romney trumpets energy proposals in Colorado