CIAO DATE: 06/2012
October 2011
The question is never whether the United States has an energy policy. It has dozens. They come with various decision-makers at overlapping levels of authority, ample numbers of stakeholders, and generally lots of confusing and often contradictory signals. Congress has been the locus of decision-making over the past half a decade, but by now most attention has shifted from legislation to regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency, in particular, has garnered significant attention—both positive and negative—with its long-delayed rulemaking in various areas. These rules cover everything from tighter ozone standards, the transport rule involving local and regional air pollutants and their effects on neighboring states, as well as greenhouse gas regulation prompted by the 2007 Supreme Court decision in EPA v. Massachusetts, which requires EPA to address global warming pollution.
Resource link: Changing Currents: Turbulence for the Electricity Industry? [PDF] - 331K