Romney says US energy independence is achievable

Romney says US energy independence is achievable

HOBBS, N.M. (AP) — Seeking to reset his economic message, Republican Mitt Romney pledged today to create 3 million jobs and more than $1 trillion in revenue by ramping up offshore oil drilling and giving states more control over energy production on federal land.

Romney, reviving a long-elusive goal pushed by presidents and presidential candidates for decades, said his plans would make the U.S., along with Canada and Mexico, energy independent by 2020.

“This is not some pie in the sky kind of thing,” Romney told voters in Hobbs, the heart of New Mexico’s oil and gas industry. “This is a real achievable objective.”