Mr. Bush’s National Energy Plan: A Case Study in Ethical Policy Assessment

Abstract

On taking office, President George W. Bush established the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPD). In 2001 it published a report proposing an Energy Supply Increase strategy (ESI). In late 2000 the Department of Energy had published a quite different report, Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future (SCEF). A comparison of the two policy proposals utilizing a set of Integrated Ethical Guidelines (IEG) leads to the conclusion that the SCEF strategy is preferable to the NEPD but not adequate to prevent a major environmental crisis from occurring.