Water

 

 - Wetlands

 

             Rapanos v. United States, 2006

 

 - The Dead Zones

 

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How Does the United States Govern Energy?

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1.  Energy in the United States - an overview

     Monthly Energy Review

 

 

2. The Politics of Energy

 

 

  Economic wealth requires energy -

  but coal, oil, and nuclear power have had extensive environmental costs

 

 

Different Types of Energy have different types of politics

 What affects the politics of energy?

· Geography

· Product characteristics

· Producer and labor characteristics

· Market structure and stability

 

 

3.  The Politics of Coal 

 

 · Coal and the Clean Air Acts

 

· the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

 

"Clean" Coal?

 

4.  The Politics of Oil

 

· Oil in the American economy

 

· The central problem for the industry:
  How to control production and prices after a new pool is discovered

 

· Solution 1: The Large Corporation

 

        The Standard Oil Company and the Governing of Oil

 

The History of the Standard Oil Company by Ida Tarbell, 1904

 

 

· Solution 2: Government Regulation 

 

    The Texas Railroad Commission

 

 

· OPEC, the Oil Crises of the 1970s and the environmental agenda
 

4. The Politics of Nuclear Power    

 

The Promise of Nuclear Power

• A history of nuclear regulation

Nuclear Power and Public Policy: Government Encouragement

• The Price Amendment (1957) - limits power company liability

 
• 1975: Nuclear Power at the height of its popularity

The Problems of Nuclear Power

Image Problems

1979: Three Mile Island

 

1986: Chernobyl

Technical Problems

 

Economic Problems

 

Nuclear Waste

 

Political Conflict (Shoreham)

 

5. Alternatives to Coal, Oil, and Nuclear Power

a. Nonrenewable sources

• Natural gas: Oil’s cleaner twin

 

 

b. Renewable sources

• Geothermal
   
• Hydropower

 
• The Tennessee Valley Authority

 

• Wind Power

The American Wind Energy Association
 
• Solar Power

 
• Biomass

c. Conservation