Jon Huntsman on natural gas subsidies at the Google Fox News Debate (Video)

Former Utah Governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman fielded a question about subsidies for natural gas during the September 23, 2011 Google Fox News Debate in Orlando, Florida.

Here's what he had to say:

Chris Wallace, Fox News: Governor Huntsman, in Utah, you offered millions of dollars in tax credits to promote clean energy. In June you said that as president you would subsidize natural gas companies. How is that different from the Obama administration, which gave the solar panel company Solyndra a half-a-billion dollars in federal loan guarantees, and as we all know, that company ended up bankrupt, and we taxpayers ended up on the hook?

Jon Huntsman: Chris, first of all, it's an honor to be here in Orlando, home of my wife, the greatest human being I've known in 28 years. 

We've learned some important lessons as this economy has spun out of control. We have some hard decisions to make. And we're not going to fix the problem. We're not going to be able to bring our people together in America until we fix the economy.

I'm convinced that part of the divide that we're experiencing in the United States, which is unprecedented, it's unnatural, and it's un-American, is because we're divided economically, too few jobs, too few opportunities.

We have learned that subsidies don't work and that we can no longer afford them. I believe that we can move toward renewable energy, but we're going to have to have a bridge product. Everybody wants to draw from the sun and draw from the wind, and I'm here to tell you that eventually that will make sense, but today the economics don't work.

We need something like natural gas. I've put forward an energy independence program, along with tax reform and regulatory reform. Just by drawing from natural gas, for example, you're looking at 500,000 to 1 million jobs over the next five years. It is ours, it's affordable, it has important national security implications, and we should begin the conversion process.

Wallace: But just a 30-second follow-up, sir. In June, you told the New Hampshire Union Leader as president you would subsidies the natural gas industry.

Huntsman: I would be willing to begin an effort, so long as there was a rapid phase-out. I do not like subsidies. I do not like long-term subsidies. But if there was some sort of way to get the ball rolling with a - with a - with a quick phase-out, I would be in favor of that.

Jon Huntsman answers question about ethanol (Video)

GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman reiterated his opposition to ethanol subsidies during a campaign stop in Sarasota, Florida over the weekend. The former Utah Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China also expressed his opposition to subsidies of all kinds.

Video of Jon Huntsman's ethanol comments:

Transcript of Jon Huntsman's comments on ethanol and subsidies:

Question: Governor, I have to put ethanol in my car. It fowls up my boat. It fowls up my car. It costs a lot more to make that ethanol. What’s your feeling about ethanol in today’s day and age?

Jon Huntsman: Well, there is probably a reason why the governor of Iowa is a little upset with me right now.

I don’t like subsidies that go into ethanol. In fact, I don’t like subsidies at all. And I think it is a budget issue in this country. And at some point, whether it’s through tax reforms, loopholes, biases or deductions. Whether it’s subsidies that get to the tens of billions of dollars. We’ve got to address that. And we’ve got to create a level playing field for people in this country and we’re not there today.

So, just look at the subsidy per gallon. You know, we already talked to ratching up to $13 when you factor in what I’ve already run through in the Middle East. We’ve got a similar situation in our subsidies for ethanol. I think it is something that needs to be addressed. 

Jon Huntsman: $13 a gallon real price of gasoline

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman spoke at length about energy independence and natural gas during his weekend visit to Sarasota, Florida. 

Video of Jon Huntsman's comments on energy independence starts at 3:52

Transcript:

The lowest of low hanging fruit – and we’ve been talking about it forever, but not quite taking it seriously - is energy independence.

I’m here to tell you that for eight presidents, going all the way back to Richard Nixon, who stood up and said, “37% imported oil. This is a travesty. We can do better than that. We’re never going to let it get beyond 37%.”

Only to have President Carter stand up and say, “40% imported oil. I am going to create the Department of Energy to ensure that this never, never happens again.”

Here we sit today at 60% imported oil. And we are saying to ourselves, “Four bucks a gallon? Four bucks and fifty cents a gallon?”

And we that’s real?

Go take a look at what the Milken Institute in Los Angeles has to say about what it’s really costing all of us for a gallon of gas.

When you factor in deployments to the Middle East. When you factor in keeping the sea lanes open for the importation of imported oil. When you look at terminaling, storage, distribution costs, etc… It is $13 a gallon from what the analysts are saying.

And I say, “We ought to be outraged and we can do better in this country.”

You want to take a real cut at the trade imbalance? You want to do something that carries profoundly important national security implications? Get imported oil down. We can do it.

We’ve got a product in this country called natural gas. And I met an entrepreneur in the northern part of Utah as governor as I was tooling around visiting people in my Suburban. And he said, “I’d love to convert your Suburban to natural gas.”

I thought, “You can do that? You can drive a natural gas car?” I had no idea!

I paid out of pocket. I had it converted. And you know what? People would call in and say, “Gee, I’m really tired Mr. Governor of paying $4 a gallon for gasoline.” - as if the governor can somehow break up the cartel in the Middle East.

And I’d say, “Let me tell you what I paid this morning for gasoline. I paid the equivalent of $1. Natural gas.”

People started buying natural gas cars. It spawned a little revolution in our state and I saw the power of what alternative fuels and natural gas can do in this country. 

It is ours. It is clean. It is cheap. And it has profoundly important national security implications. This is low hanging fruit and we should be seizing it.