WASHINGTON — Governor Pataki offered a national energy plan yesterday designed to drive down dependence on foreign oil and energize his own presidential ambitions for 2008.

Mr. Pataki said the high price of gasoline threatens the nation’s security as well as the economy, and offered a 10-year plan based principally on tax incentives for manufacturers to develop fuel-efficient cars and for energy producers to increase the availability of ethanol and other alternatives to oil.

“Foreign oil’s undeniable ties to terror, to global instability and to continued environmental degradation makes immediate, decisive action to reduce our petroleum consumption absolutely critical,” the governor, who is winding down his third and final term in office, said.

Mr. Pataki, a Republican who is considering a run for president, outlined his ideas for a new national energy plan in a speech to the National Press Club.

He proposed a 10-year program of incentives, research, and construction to make alternatives to oil easily available across the country.

“We’ve reached a critical decision point in America: a decision between dependency and self-reliance, between vulnerability and freedom, between the polluting fuels of yesterday and the fuel alternatives of tomorrow,” he said. Mr. Pataki said the three key elements of his proposal are:

• Tax credits to encourage auto makers to produce more efficient vehicles. The goal would be to boost average fuel economy in America to 34 miles a gallon from about 21 miles a gallon, an improvement that would daily save the equivalent of a day’s imports from the oil cartel OPEC.

• Promoting development of alternative fuels through a combination of tax incentives, legislative changes, and loan guarantees to producers as well as encouraging research partnerships between universities, foundations, and producers.

• Providing tax incentives and reforming the fuel distribution business to boost installation of renewable fuel pumps at service stations.

He also singled out oil-producing nations Iran and Venezuela as prime examples of why America should become self-reliant energy consumers, saying those two countries benefit economically from American consumption of oil, and then use those profits to thwart American goals.

During a question-and-answer session that followed the speech, Mr. Pataki said he favored opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and declined to criticize the current administration’s energy policy. He said the current shutdown in Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay shows the need for expanded domestic drilling.

“There’s no question we have to expand domestic production of oil. I think you’ve just seen this afternoon what happened unless we have reliable additional sources that are convenient to the market. So yes, we need to open up more places for oil exploration and drilling,” Mr. Pataki said.

The governor later backtracked, telling reporters he did not mean to “rule in or rule out any particular area,” including ANWR, for oil drilling.

He also said he favored expanding nuclear power production.