Romney criticizes McCain's energy plan

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday that the energy plan proposed by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will be costly for U.S. citizens.

Romney said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that McCain's proposed cap-and-trade bill would ultimately cost U.S. citizens a fortune on all energy utilities.

"What he's proposing is a cap-and-trade bill that would cost -- according to the American Energy Institute -- would cost the American consumer an extra 50 cents a gallon and on all of our utilities, an extra 20 percent," Romney said.

Romney said the plan from his main rival for the Republican presidential nomination would benefit neither the environment nor U.S. taxpayers.

"This is something which is just unacceptable and frankly because it would not involve nations like China and India it's not going to help the global environment," Romney said.

Romney said he remained hopeful he could catch up to McCain in the upcoming primaries.