Energy security discourses and environmental protection measures in U.S. federal energy legislation: An introductory exploration

Abstract

Energy security is a term that is commonly invoked in public discourse and the policy domain to emphasize a link between energy issues and national security concerns and to frame arguments surrounding the need for a variety of energy policy prescriptions. However, a lack of consensus has emerged over the meaning, and the means to achieve the goal, of energy security. This paper provides an exploratory examination of the presence, evolution, and implications of the use of the energy security frame in three omnibus energy acts passed in the United States Congress to determine how energy security arguments are intertwined with legislative policy praxis. The research reveals the evolution of trends in the lexicon used to address energy issues, the range of problems addressed as security concerns, and the quantity and quality of environmental protection provisions. Broadly building on prior work on the concept of environmental security, the analysis contributes to the debate over the effect of framing environmental issues as security concerns, extending these considerations to the understudied realm of energy security.