On his campaign website, Santorum said the country needs "an all-of-the-above energy policy that uses oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy to power our economy and empower the American worker." He advocates ending roadblocks to oil exploration and stopping new natural gas regulations. "We will open up energy in America, whether it's ANWR, whether it's coal mining, whether it's drilling, we will have a free market of energy production," he said in a speech in November 2011. "And we will lead the world and we will have stable, long-term energy prices."

Santorum said at a debate in Michigan in November 2011 that he would phase out all energy subsidies and opposed creating incentives for "different forms of energy that the government supports." Santorum voted against ethanol subsidies while in Congress. In a June 2011 debate in New Hampshire, Santorum said he believes the ethanol industry is mature enough to survive (CNN) without them.

Speaking in Oklahoma in February 2012, Santorum reaffirmed his support for domestic natural shale gas production (CNN) using the controversial process hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." He dismissed environmental fears over the process, which have surfaced after reports of water contamination. He also said that reliance on foreign oil complicates U.S. interests in the Middle East.

"When I am president, I'll approve the Keystone Pipeline for jobs and energy security, and sign an order on day one unleashing America's domestic energy production, allowing states to choose where they want to explore for oil and natural gas and to set their own regulations for hydrofracking," Santorum said in a March op-ed.

Michele Bachmann (*withdrew)

Editor's Note: Rep. Bachmann withdrew her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 4, 2012.

Bachmann (R-MN) has proposed an energy strategy that includes expanding drilling and reducing regulations that increase production costs of traditional energy. "If we legalize American energy production, which I have been advocating throughout my time in Congress, we will create very quickly 1.4 million high-paying jobs," she said in an October 2011 speech in Des Moines, Iowa. "We'll increase domestic energy supplies 50 percent and that will bring $800 billion into the United State Treasury."

In August 2011, she said under her presidency the country would "see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again" (CNNMoney). She has supported opening up drilling in the Outer Continental shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), which she called in her October 2011 Des Moines speech "the most perfect place on the planet to drill for oil." As a member of Congress, she has introduced several pieces of energy legislation, including ones to support fast-tracking shale production and increasing access to oil drilling.

Bachmann also supports diversifying supply and finding "innovative solutions to help protect the environment." She is a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus and has introduced legislation to fast-track tax depreciation on renewable energy production. However, she also has opposed subsidies for ethanol (USAToday), the phase-out of the incandescent light bulb (TheHill), and regulating greenhouse gases.

Jon Huntsman (*withdrew)

Editor's Note: Huntsman withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 16, 2012.

Like many of the GOP candidates, Huntsman is proposing an "all of the above" approach to energy policy with an emphasis on energy security. "America is drowning in energy resources, yet every year we send $300 billion--half our trade deficit--overseas for oil," says his campaign site. His website says ten of the last eleven recessions have included sharp spikes in gasoline prices.

Huntsman's energy plan comes with two focus points. First, he vows to create a leveler playing field for non-petroleum based transportations fuels, including electricity, coal-to-liquids, and compressed natural gas. Second, Huntsman has said he would eliminate all energy subsidies. "We will stop using limited federal resources to prop up individual companies, directing that money instead to basic energy research," he said in a November 2011 speech in New Hampshire. Huntsman backed tax credits (SaltLakeTribune) for renewable energy production while governor of Utah.

In announcing his energy plan in New Hampshire, he also said he supports more domestic oil production, construction of the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and expanded use of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas production. Huntsman also criticized the EPA for several new clean air rules directed at coal power plants that he says would cause blackouts.

Rick Perry (*withdrew)

Editor's Note: Perry withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on January 19, 2012.

Perry proposes an energy plan that focuses on security and jobs, through an "all of the above" strategy. He says as president, he would focus on increasing domestic sources of energy that would create 1.2 million jobs. He also will ask the Interior Department to open "all appropriate" lands and waters to energy exploration. Perry has said he would eliminate the Energy Department and restructure the EPA to reduce regulatory burdens on energy producers.

"We're sitting on this absolute treasure trove of energy in this country," Perry said at a debate in New Hampshire in October 2011. "We need to get a president of the United States that is committed to passing the types of regulations, pulling the regulations back, freeing this country to go develop the energy industry that we have in this country." Perry said at a debate in Las Vegas in October 2011 that the federal government doesn't "need to be subsidizing energy in any form" and energy decisions should be left to the states.

As governor of Texas, Perry has made diversifying the state's energy mix a major priority to help lower prices, according to the Texas governor's website. Perry has also opposed the federal moratorium on offshore drilling imposed after the 2010 oil spill, as well as federal cap and trade legislation, arguing that it would make oil, gas, and electricity more expensive.