Huckabee on the Issues

Update: Mike Huckabee dropped out of the presidential race on Mar. 4, 2008.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, touts energy independence as one of his top priorities. He dodges the issue of whether humans are responsible for global warming, saying we don't know for sure, but argues that we should still act to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Whenever he's asked about climate change or the environment, he wraps in religion, saying we have a spiritual obligation to protect God's creation.

Read an interview with Mike Huckabee by Grist and Outside.

Key Points

• Places high priority on energy independence. On his campaign site, he says, "The first thing I will do as president is send Congress my comprehensive plan for energy independence. We will achieve energy independence by the end of my second term."
  
  
• Is not convinced that climate change is largely driven by human activity, but believes we should take steps to curb greenhouse-gas emissions anyway.
  
  
• Supports a mandatory, economy-wide cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States.
  
  
• Supports expansion of nuclear energy.
  
  
• Supports oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore in U.S. waters, but says, "In the long term, we need to get off oil altogether."
  
  
• Supports raising fuel-economy standards for automobiles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
  
  
• Emphasizes that there's a religious and moral imperative to conserve resources and protect the earth.
  
  

Video & Audio

Watch Huckabee answer a question about global warming at a May 3, 2007, debate between Republican presidential candidates:




Watch Huckabee answer Glenn Beck's question about global warming:




Watch Huckabee talk about conservation with Chris Matthews:




Watch Huckabee answer a question about energy independence:




Listen to a clip of Huckabee's interview with Grist and Outside:

Quotable Quotes

• "We ought to be moving rapidly towards energy sources that don't have a greenhouse-gas effect. Aggressively set the goal that within a 10-year period, we should move away from a fossil-fuel culture to one that has alternative energy resources."
  
  -- in an interview with The Denver Post
  
  
• "The most important thing about global warming is this: whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists, but it is all of our responsibilities to leave this planet in better shape for future generations than we found it. It's the old Boy Scout rule of the campsite: You leave the campsite in better shape than you found it. I believe that even our responsibility to God means that we have to be good stewards of this Earth, be good caretakers of the natural resources that don't belong to us, we just get to use them. We have no right to abuse them."
  
  -- May 3, 2007, at a debate between Republican presidential candidates
  
  

Platform & Record In-Depth

• Supports biofuels in their many forms: ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, biogas from farm methane, reprocessed biodiesel from used cooking oils.
  
  
• Supports a renewable portfolio standard that would require 15 percent of U.S. electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2020. Proposes expanding the concept to include "alternative" energy in addition to "renewable," so it would include "clean coal" and nuclear power.
  
  
• As Arkansas governor, supported the National Governors Association's 2006 policy position on climate change, which recommends ongoing climate research, development of emissions-reducing technology, and other voluntary measures.
  
  
• In 2001, signed into law the Arkansas Renewable Energy Development Act [PDF], which requires utilities to offer net metering to both commercial and residential customers. While the bill is principally aimed at energy created from renewable sources, the legislation leaves open the possibility for the utilities commission to allow non-renewable sources as part of the program.
  
  

Still Haven't Gotten Enough?

• Read Huckabee's energy platform on his campaign website.
  
  
• Read Huckabee's agriculture platform on his campaign website.
  
  
• Read Huckabee's official bio.
  
  

What did we miss? Tell us below in comments. We'll update this page as the presidential campaign continues.


Todd Hymas Samkara and Kate Sheppard contributed to this fact sheet.