Rudy Giuliani on Energy & Oil Former Mayor of New York City; Republican Candidate for 2000 Senate (NY)

Support the technologies that improve alternative energy use

Opposes mandated 35mpg by 2020; develop alternatives instead

A: That isn’t the way I think it should be done. I think what we should be doing is developing the alternatives so it’s possible to accomplish that as opposed to just setting mandates and not having the support there for expansion of hybrid vehicles, expansion of biofuels, including ethanol.

Q: But you’re against increasing miles per gallon.

A: I would not do it that way, yes. I would do it with heavy expansion of hybrid vehicles, which move some of the sources over to electricity, then deal with clean coal, nuclear power, hybrid vehicles, expansion of hydroelectric power, more oil refineries, more domestic oil. Those are the things that we should be supporting. And we should be selling that to the rest of the world. So the real emphasis here should be on developing energy independence and creating these alternative industries.

Don’t draw the line anywhere--advance all technologies

A: I think Iran would be a lot more of a paper tiger if we were more energy independent. You could go on into a lot of examples like that. This is a matter of national security. You’ve got to support all the alternatives. There’s no magic bullet here--biofuels, nuclear power. We haven’t licensed a nuclear power plant in 30 years. We haven’t had a new refinery in 30 years. We’re on hold. Hydroelectric power, solar power, wind power, conservation-- we have to support all of these things. The president has to treat this like putting a man on the moon.

Q: But where do you draw the line? Do you support drilling off the coast of Florida, California?

A: You don’t draw the line anywhere. What you do is you work with people to try to advance all of these technologies. Long-term damage to our environment would be a mistake, that would be an overreaction. You have to make sound judgments, and you have to advance these new technologies.

Accept global warming & work toward energy independence

GIULIANI: I think we have to accept the view that scientists have that there is global warming and that humans contribute to that. And the fact is that there is a way to deal with it and to address it in a way that we can also accomplish energy independence, which we need as a matter of national security. It’s frustrating and really dangerous for us to see money going to our enemies because we have to buy oil from certain countries. We should be supporting all the alternatives. We need a project similar to putting a man on the moon.

ROMNEY: Rudy Giuliani is right in terms of an Apollo project to get us energy independent, and the effects of that on global warming are positive. It’s a no-regrets policy. It’s a great idea. [We need,] as a strategic imperative, energy independence for America. And it takes that Apollo project.

Signing Kyoto would just move CO2 emissions to China & India

A: They would move offshore to China and India and it would have no impact on global warming. Whatever your scientific conclusion about global warming, whether it’s manmade or it isn’t or whatever, the reality is that if you don’t have restrictions on China, if you don’t have restrictions on India, our contribution, ultimately, is going to be minor. We could put all these restrictions on ourselves and have just as much arguable global warming if China, India, some of these other countries that are going to be contributing a lot more to this don’t become part of some kind of system to create alternatives.

No new energy tax; focus on alternatives instead

A: I don’t like taxes. I don’t know how to make that any clearer. I don’t like taxes. Inventing new ones is a very big mistake. Find other ways to do it. If you want to deal with global warming, the way to deal with global warming is to develop these alternative technologies. Get serious about energy independence, so we wouldn’t have to send money to our enemies. Let’s put the resources in to catch up on ethanol.

Nuclear power is dangerous, but nobody’s died from it

Develop energy-independent technology, but not wind power

Got to expand nuclear and do clean coal

Open Strategic Petroleum Reserve to battle high oil prices

Oil crisis is “compelling justification” to use Reserves