Over the past several years individuals and organizations across the political spectrum have called for a comprehensive national energy policy.
For example, the CEO of American Electric Power (AEP) recently called for a comprehensive, multi-decade policy, citing the power sector’s desire for regulatory certainty. “One of the biggest challenges [for AEP], certainly from a regulatory perspective,” he said, “[is that] regulations tend to change based upon what administration is in place. Really we do need an element of consistency there.”
Robert Rapier, author of the R-Squared column at Consumer Energy Report, also supports the need for more stable energy policies. “A sound energy policy should take into account the supply side, the demand side, and the possibility that projections will be wrong on one or both counts,” he writes. “Energy policy decisions must also factor in the impact on current and future generations, and they should be capable of weathering changing political climates.”
The Obama Administration has touted its “all of the above” energy policy, based on last year’s “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future”.
Administration critics such as presidential candidate Mitt Romney have disparaged the Administration’s approach, focusing on what some see as restrictive regulations and unjustified support for clean energy technologies.
Is it true that the U.S. lacks an energy policy? What might a comprehensive national energy policy look like? Does the Obama Administration’s “all of the above” strategy constitute a national energy policy?
For several years I’ve been advocating “all of the above” as the best approach to an energy policy. I was cheered by the President’s first mention of the phrase in… Read more »
I think the underlying challenge to a having a stable and coherent grand energy strategy is the lack of coherence about what we want our future to look like, and… Read more »
Agreed. Before we can get a policy we need energy goals to direct it. The latter can only be achieved by a dialogue involving people who represent a broad cross-section… Read more »
YES WE NEED A NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY. My reasons for saying this are contained in the slides of the energy seminar I have presented at Cornell and the University of… Read more »
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