GOP 2012 budget plan calls for expanded oil-and-gas production

A 2012 budget proposal unveiled by House Republicans Tuesday calls for cutting federal incentives for key energy technologies while expanding domestic oil and gas production.

The budget blueprint, authored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), outlines House Republicans’ energy policy goals in broad terms but offers little detail.

The budget blueprint calls for “boosting American energy resources.”

“This budget removes moratoriums on safe, responsible energy exploration in the United States, ends Washington policies that drive up gas prices, and unlocks American energy production to help lower costs, create jobs, and reduce dependence on foreign oil,” the proposal says.

The blueprint language echoes energy proposals put forth in recent weeks by Republicans, including House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (Wash.)

Meanwhile, the proposal calls for slashing federal incentives for key energy technologies. “This budget would roll back federal intervention and expensive corporate-welfare funding directed to the president’s allied industries,” the blueprint says.

The budget doesn’t specify which industries will be targeted, but Republicans have criticized the administration and Democrats for supporting incentives for wind and solar, among other technologies.

The proposal doesn’t appear to address tax incentives for the oil industry. President Obama and many Democrats have called for eliminating the incentives.

While the proposal doesn’t outline specific cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, it calls for getting spending back to 2008 levels, noting that the EPA budget has increased in recent years.