The Bush administration is due to propose a National Energy Strategy next year, but the document faces an uncertain reception in Congress.
The NES process was the major topic of discussion at a Politics of Energy seminar taped last week in Arlington, Va., and televised on the Public Broadcasting System's business channel.
The program was sponsored by Jefferson Energy Foundation, an industry backed group based in Washington, D.C., that seeks to educate the public on energy issues.
Panelists were retiring Sen. James McClure (R-Idaho), Rep. Phil Sharp (D Ind.), former ARCO Chairman Robert O. Anderson, former Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, National Coal Association Pres. Richard Lawson, Bruce Smart of the World Resources Institute, and Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News & World Report.
WHAT'S REQUIRED
All agreed the U.S. needs a comprehensive energy strategy.
Sharp, chairman of the House energy and power subcommittee, noted, "We have many energy policies in place. But they don't add up to a coherent policy."
He said industry needs a clear, reliable energy program because of long lead times required to develop energy projects.
He said the NES is not something that requires a Draconian approach, but a consistent approach.
Most of all, Sharp said, the Bush administration must provide strong leadership on energy issues and cannot, like the Reagan administration, rely on the free market and expect to affect the nation's dependence on imported oil.
McClure was disgruntled with the concept of seeking a consensus on energy policy. A former Senate energy committee chairman, he has seen more disagreement than agreement on energy issues.
He did not foresee a major legislative-administrative struggle over the NES but said the American public must be convinced the policy and its prices monetary, environmental, and social are necessary. That will require industry and government to "sell" the NES to the public, he said.
Anderson said the energy strategy must effectively balance energy price and energy security issues. "We have had cheap energy in this country for a decade and are reluctant to do anything to impede this low cost energy lifestyle."
He said the nation was asking itself the same questions about dependence on imported energy 17 years ago.
"Now we're right back where we were. But I'm not sure this time the price of oil is going to come down and break everyone's resolve" to take the necessary steps.
A BACKWARDS APPROACH
Lawson offered several observations on the energy strategy.
He said its major objective obviously should be to lessen dependence on imported oil, and it should approach the problem backwards: It should set a specific goal for a point in the future, then direct the nation's energy, economic, and environmental policies toward meeting that goal.
Will that happen, or will the plan merely be a hodgepodge of the nation's least controversial energy options? Time will tell.
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