Mayor Rudy Giuliani

"Every potential solution must be pursued — from nuclear power to increased energy exploration to more aggressive investment in alternative energy sources. I believe that America can achieve energy independence through a national strategy that emphasizes diversification, innovation, and conservation."

—Rudy Giuliani, campaign Website

One of Rudy Giuliani's "12 commitments" is energy independence, which he aims to achieve with a mix of new energy technologies like clean coal and biofuels, nuclear power, and new domestic oil and gas exploration.

He has not received notable endorsements from environmental organizations in the past, and because he hasn't held national office, his voting record has not been rated by the League of Conservation Voters.

The 2008 Giuliani campaign has taken $541,308 from the oil and gas industry, the highest total of any candidate, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rudy Giuliani's Energy and Environmental Platform at a Glance

Giuliani has acknowledged the scientific consensus that global warming is caused in significant ways by human activity. His energy policy, and his public statements about energy, however, focus exclusively on the goal of achieving "energy independence" — one of his "12 commitments." Addressing pollution and global warming are cast as side benefits, and he has no specific goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond creating a new database to track key indicators related to climate change. He hasn't released a detailed energy or environmental plan, but he has enumerated the causes he supports and made public statements about his positions.

ENERGY

• Support ethanol and biofuel industry to lessen need for foreign oil and "revitalize rural America."
• Acknowledge important role that renewable sources of electricity, including solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal power, will play.
• Expand use of nuclear power.
• "Commercialize" clean coal technologies, including carbon sequestration.
• Natural gas: We should use clean-burning natural gas, especially to replace oil in large truck and bus fleets.
• Expand "environmentally responsible" access to the proven oil and natural gas reserves throughout North America.
• Encourage entrepreneurs to develop new technologies, like hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid gas-electric vehicles.
• Support building of oil new refineries, transmission lines and power plants; invest in a digital "Smart Grid"; and cut regulations to "secure, renew and expand" energy infrastructure.
• Improve energy efficiency in the government, business and private spheres.
• Create EnergyStat, a public Web-based database of energy statistics, to "continuously monitor and measure a selected set of indicators that are specifically tied to the effective management of initiatives on energy independence and climate change."

• League of Conservation Voters
• The Heat Is On, a partnership project of the LCV Education Fund
• Rudy Giuliani's Campaign Website
• Center for Responsive Politics

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