US energy policy

The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state, and local entities in the United States, which address issues of energy production, distribution, and consumption, such as building codes and gas mileage standards. Energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, subsidies and incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques.

Several mandates have been proposed over the years, such as gasoline will never exceed $1.00/gallon (Nixon), and the United States will never again import as much oil as it did in 1977 (Carter), but no comprehensive long-term energy policy has been proposed, although there has been concern over this failure. Three Energy Policy Acts have been passed, in 1992, 2005, and 2007, which include many provisions for conservation, such as the Energy Star program, and energy development, with grants and tax incentives for both renewable energy and non-renewable energy.

There is also criticism that federal energy policies since the 1973 oil crisis have been dominated by crisis-mentality thinking, promoting expensive quick fixes and single-shot solutions that ignore market and technology realities. Instead of providing stable rules that support basic research while leaving plenty of scope for American entrepreneurship and innovation, congresses and presidents have repeatedly backed policies which promise solutions that are politically expedient, but whose prospects are doubtful, without adequate consideration of the dollar costs, environmental costs, or national security costs of their actions.

State-specific energy-efficiency incentive programs also play a significant role in the overall energy policy of the United States. The United States refused to endorse the , preferring to let the market drive CO₂ reductions to mitigate global warming, which will require CO₂ emission taxation. The administration of Barack Obama has proposed an aggressive energy policy reform, including the need for a reduction of CO₂ emissions, with a cap and trade program, which could help encourage more clean renewable, sustainable energy development. Thanks to new technologies such as fracking, the United States has in 2014 resumed its former role as the top oil producer in the world.

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