Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2012
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00144
Abstract
The United States was remarkably complacent about energy policy until the Arab oil embargo of 1973. Since then, we have relied on unnecessarily costly regulations and poorly designed subsidies to mandate or encourage particular forms of energy production and use. Our presidents have quested after an elusive technological “silver bullet.” Congress has elevated parochial interests and short-term political advantages over national needs. Despite the thousands of pages of energy legislation enacted over the past four decades, Congress has never demanded that Americans pay a price that reflects the full costs of the energy they consume. Given our nation’s economic fragility, our difficult fiscal situation, and the daunting challenges of achieving energy security and limiting climate change, we can no longer afford second- and third-best policies. This essay discusses the failures of the past and how we might avoid repeating them.
Disciplines
Administrative Law | Energy and Utilities Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Michael J. Graetz,
Energy Policy: Past or Prologue?,
141(2)
Daedalus
31
(2012).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2237
Comments
© 2012 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Originally published in Daedalus, Vol. 141, No. 2, p. 31, 2012.