Giuliani's Right On The Environment

National Review Online: As Mayor, Rudy Stood Up To Environmentalists

(National Review Online) 
Environmentalists whined when New York City and Consolidated Edison cooperated to build ten new electrical generating plants and expand another facility where 14th Street meets FDR Drive.

"We object to the fact that our neighborhood is being slammed with pollution," East River Environmental Coalition president Susan Steinberg complained to gothamgazette.com. "Con Ed, let me breathe" demanded a placard at an April 2001 protest. One demonstrator's puppet puffed on an asthma nebulizer.

As Giuliani writes in his book, "Leadership," "I, too, would have preferred a public park or beautiful housing to a generator on the East River, but I also had to think about the 12,000 megawatts New Yorkers could consume in an hour on a hot day." Indeed, a 1999 blackout left 300,000 Washington Heights and Inwood residents in the dark for 30 hours.

"My administration's clear priority in this area is to see that the lights stay on and that electricity continues to flow in New York City," Giuliani said in a March 27, 2001, power-policy address. "There is no room for complacency as we prepare for the future." He added: "The City should continue its support of deregulation because, in the long-run, the free market will do the best job of ensuring that New Yorkers get dependable, affordable, and cleaner electricity."

"The spectacular economic growth that has occurred over the past half-dozen years means that New Yorkers are consuming more electricity. This is fundamentally a good thing," Giuliani continued. "If New York City's record job growth enables a family of recent immigrants living in Washington Heights to afford an air conditioner so that they can be more comfortable during the summer months, that is a good thing as well. Everyone needs adequate power to maintain and further improve their quality of life."

Intriguingly, Giuliani also said: "While cost-effective energy conservation is important, we need to recognize that conservation alone cannot eliminate the need for new power plants located here in New York City."

This statement violates the First Commandment of Kyotoism: "Thou shalt chop CO2 emissions to 1990 levels." Good luck expanding an economy with, essentially, 17-year-old energy-consumption targets.

Giuliani also privatized the management of Central Park. While the city still owns Gotham’s gorgeous 843-acre rectangle of flora, bike paths, lakes, lawns, and stages, the Central Park Conservancy, a non-profit, operates it. For New York, this idea was as radical as an American president asking the National Geographic Society to manage Yellowstone National Park.

Today, Giuliani advocates broader domestic production to achieve energy independence as a national-security goal. As he told supporters March 14 at New York’s Sheraton Hotel: "We have to end our reliance on oil from sources that are enemies of the United States." Last June 13, he told a Manhattan Institute luncheon, "We have to diversify. That's our strength. You can be independent by being diversified." Giuliani embraces Alaskan oil drilling, plus natural gas, clean coal, ethanol, and accelerated construction of atomic power plants.

None of this will help America's Mayor with the eco-freaks, but they hate him anyway. These facts, however, pour yet another spade full of earth on the myth that Rudolph W. Giuliani is some sort of liberal.

[idlepugilist]

Pehaps making the decision to spray for mosquitos appears to be the point the NRO believes may be pivotal for Rudy to become the front runner. While some "Greens" or environmentalists may seem as extremist to you as Bush, Delay and Gingrich seem to the rest of the country, those of us in other states wonder what the significance of this mosquito story is. Especially Wisconsin and Minnesota residents, who know the little pest to be their state bird.
Whoopee for Rudy! He chose to do something other states have been doing for years. What a dynamic leader he'd make. The rest of us who don't worship the NRO are looking for something with a little substance out of Rudy. Like ethics. He'd be well advised to never speak with Gingrich or Delay, due to the guilt-by-association thing the NRO likes to play with environmentalists and Greens.

[clestes-2009]

Which is why Rudy has little chance of being elected. The time of the pro business, pro war, pro military candidate is PAST, thank God. The American people are finally waking up to the idea that the days when we can run over every one else, pollute the air as much as we want are history.

As for the pro business. Say hello to the new world leader CHINA. To whom we owe trillions of dollars thanks to our blunder in chief, that good ole boy dumb dubya.

Rest in peace you right wing has beens. You tried hard to start another world war and just showed the world how really stupid you are and woke the American people up.

[dallison7]

WOW!!

90,000 got sick and 17 died!

.00019% FATALITY!!

Sounds like the dreaded 'Hangnail'.

Giuliani is indeed a hero!

[gdmoore2]

Odd article. The author is contriving a confrontation where none existed with most of the conservation and environmental community. Perhaps the National Review believes that it succeeds when it is divisive. Well, the Bush days are coming to an end, and perhaps we shall grow beyond the automatic devisiveness that the neocons have come to thrive upon.

Rudy Giuliani is a moderate conservative. He will get along just fine with the conservation and environmental communities, particularly in the western states. There are other reasons for Democrats and moderate Conservatives to question Giuliani, particularly on his foreign policy, Iraq, and trade views, but spraying to prevent West Nile virus is not one of them.

[bm6005]

Didja ever notice that writers for this rag have elitist names. Never fails as far as I can tell. That said Rudy and DeRoy are MORONS!! No printable comments about Kerik!

[johnshaft4]

PS...Rudy, Baby (*itch) as a former Federal Prosecutor, YOU KNEW, or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN just how corrupt YOUR right hand man KERIK was/is.
After ALL of the corruption WE have experienced, do YOU think that WE are so stupid as to jump in bed with a slime bag as YOU?...
Then again STD's ARE on the rise.
What a creep Rudy is...

[johnshaft4]

This Murdock clown who wrote this piece of gibberish (apparently,in the throes of opiate withdrawl) is too stupid to remember BERNIE KERIK.
Take Bernie to your Rudy graves, YOU corrupt, lying, theiving JERKS!!!
ANYONE, who would contribute a red cent to ANY Republican would BE MUCH BETTER OF feeding their "so called" brains with crack cocaine.
What a bunch of idiots... Up yours Rudy...YOUR sins will ALWAYS find you out...

[mcvet]

This Nazi Rag spends much of our time spinning an action of Giuliani with a bunch of Mosquietos as if THAT somehow makes him someone we can look to clean up the mess that is Iraq and our losing in our efforts to stop the spread of World Wide Terrorist. I can't see, given his treatment of his own people, this clown winning very many Hearts and Minds. Now if we whated a Gestapo type to frighten the dickens out of everyone, like Bush, he'd be our man. Problem is, as the WORLD WIDE HATE for BUSH has shown, that is NOT a winning solution... NOT AT ALL. We had better wake up and smell the coffee here people. Without World Wide Allies and the ability to call upon the Strenght of that weapon, we can not do anything against Terrorism.