ABSTRACT
United States energy policy has taken an ambivalent approach to energy regulation, reflected in rapid changes of policy direction under different administrations. This in part may reflect the federal structure of the United States, which apportions responsibility for many issues to local and state authorities, but it is also the result of intense interest-group politics. Nevertheless, the dominant view of energy in the United States has been that energy is a commodity that is manageable through market forces (Stern and Aronson 1984). The 1984 International Energy Agency review of U.S. energy policy states that there exists “widespread agreement that market mechanisms will usually represent the most efficient route to specific energy goals” (1984, p. 458).
