Romney's Energy Plan: Drill, Baby, Drill!

Calls for more oil and natural gas extraction from federal lands.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will lay out policies on Thursday aimed at achieving North American energy independence by 2020 by pursuing a sharp increase in production of oil and natural gas on federal lands and off the U.S. coast.

Romney is to unveil his plan at a truck and supply business in Hobbs, New Mexico, as he seeks to draw a sharp contrast between his energy policies and those of President Barack Obama and detail in part how he would rekindle job growth in the United States.

His emphasis on the economy amounts to an effort to return the campaign to the central issue Romney believes is most critical in the Nov. 6 election and the key to a victory for him.