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COLUMBUS -- State Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) announced his Energy Security Plan today at a local gas station as part of his campaign for the 15th Congressional District seat.

Stivers' plan is centered on an aggressive federal push to produce more energy by creating cabinet-level office responsible for expanding the U.S. petroleum supply, investing $100 billion in alternative energy resources, raising mileage requirements for new vehicles, cracking down on speculative oil trading and reducing the number of gasoline blends refiners are required to make.

Stivers couched the problem of high oil prices in economic terms first.

"You don't have to be here at a gas station to see the impact of high gas prices," Stivers said. "We saw it when Skybus declared bankruptcy. You can see it when employers can no longer expand jobs and grow jobs and you see it every day when families are faced with the high cost of gasoline at the pump and the high cost of food at the grocery store."

Emphasizing the security side of his energy plan, Stivers reached back to World War II for his idea of a Petroleum Security Administration that would be in charge of expanding energy supplies.

Stivers was asked by PolitickerOH.com if his plan would call for opening specific oil reserves to drilling.

"I'm not going to sit here today and propose where exactly to open up but there will clearly be places where that person and hopefully congress will believe where we need to increase domestic production," he said.

Stivers also said energy supplies and consumptions are matters of national security.

"I believe the national imperative is more important now than it was during World War II," Stivers added.

Stivers said that he switched to a hybrid vehicle after serving his Army National Guard tour in Iraq for national security reasons as well.

"When I got back from Operation Iraqi freedom I bought this hybrid Ford Escape because I tired of sending money overseas to people who were trying to kill my buddies over there," he said.

At a question-and-answer forum with voters in Marysville last month, Stivers said he was considering backing a gas-tax holiday, which is supported by presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, but campaign manager Mike Hartley said Stivers has decided not to support the holiday. The tax is 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel.

Details on Stivers' energy plan are here.