Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester said Saturday that breaking the country's dependency on foreign oil "is a national security issue."

Tester, who is seeking to unseat Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., is traveling eastern Montana on a six-day "Real Energy, Real Change" tour.

"This is more than just energy we're talking about, this really is a national security issue," he said.

Americans are paying record prices for fuel while the dependency on foreign oil increases and the Middle East continues to destabilize, he said. Meanwhile, big oil companies receive tax breaks while earning big profits, Tester said.

"We're heading the wrong direction," he said. "It's time we make America energy independent."

His plan emphasizes energy efficiency, investing in bio-fuel technology, developing Montana's natural resources cleanly and efficiently, being independent of foreign energy through renewable energy and extending tax incentives for wind energy production.

Tester was at the Judith Gap wind farm Friday and called it "absolutely incredible." As a farmer near Big Sandy, Tester said he has always considered wind a liability, but converting it to energy makes wind an asset.

There is an "oil boom in eastern Montana right now," Tester said. If America and Montana could more quickly refine that oil, the price at the pump would go down.

"We need to bump up our ability to refine," he said.

Jason Klindt, communications director for Burns' re-election campaign, said Tester didn't raise any new ideas.

"I appreciate his me-too' energy plan, but everything that he talked about was in the energy bill that was passed in 2005," said Klindt, who attended the announcement in the parking lot of Village Mart gas station. "We need to wean ourselves off of foreign sources of oil. The energy bill will be a giant step in that direction."