Energy Regulation: A Quagmire for Energy Policy

Abstract

The difficulties that energy policy makers in the United States experienced in 1974 and 1975 resulted from the lack of a comprehensive and coordinated national energy policy. More than 2000 energy-related bills and resolutions were introduced in the 93rd Congress. More than a thousand days of exhaustive hearings were held; and finally, about forty laws were enacted. Among these was the Energy Reorganization Act that established the Energy Resources Council and separated the functions of the Atomic Energy Commission into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration. This measure consolidated most of the government's energy R and D efforts and removed the conflict-of-interest stigma that had stymied the AEC's efforts to both develop and regulate nuclear energy. The legislative record of the 93rd Congress neither formulated a guiding philosophy nor a strategy for coordinated and comprehensive action. The 94th Congress approached the energy situation as a composite whole, and the Administration settled on an energy strategy and through the Energy Resources Council provided some continuity of purpose and support to its energy proposals. Three competitive plans that emerged are: the President's (S 594), the House Ways and Means Committee's (HR 5005), and the Democratic Majority's. Themore » three plans all have the same four distinct goals: reduction of U.S. dependency on energy imports, protection against disruption of foreign supplies, increased conservation and efficiency, and increased domestic energy supplies. Such competition between congressional goals does not indicate that a national energy policy is being formulated, though. (MCW)« less