Towards a Rational Energy Policy

Environmental and energy policies are fundamentally concerned with resource allocation, resource enhancement, and resource constraints in light of the ultimate limitation of resources on the planet. The United States consumes thirty percent of the world's energy and a rational energy policy must deal carefully with choices designed to achieve the optimum public good. Petroleum is crucial to our economy and will continue to be for the next two decades. Our dependence on it involves not only financial and technical problems but also geopolitical considerations. We must devise ways to control our petroleum consumption, increase the efficiency of our use, move to develop alternate energy sources such as coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, and solar. We must review the tradeoffs between environmental protection and energy production, and we must consider pricing policy. The President's energy policy is aimed toward achieving these goals. We should implement it for the present while encouraging creative technological development of new and innovative solutions for the future.