Gingrich urges scrapping EPA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is criticizing President Barack Obama's policies as a "war on American energy."

Gingrich, who is weighing a bid to challenge Obama in 2012, used an appearance Thursday at a conservative meeting to pitch his own energy alternative. Gingrich says a revised energy policy could help create jobs and increase national security.

He told the Conservative Political Action Conference, the unofficial start to the 2012 White House campaign, that he would scrap the Environmental Protection Agency and its regulations and replace it with an Environmental Solutions Agency that rewards innovation.

Gingrich warned that hundreds of thousands of jobs are in danger if Obama is allowed to continue his environmental policies.