Energy Policy

The oil and price shocks of the early 1970s spurred Congress to create a permanent mechanism for developing and implementing a national energy policy. Under the law, the President must submit a comprehensive national energy plan to Congress every 2 years. GAO found that the six national energy plans submitted by three administrations since 1979 have varied significantly in responding to the law's provisions. Although most plans set objectives and outlined strategies to achieve them, no plan fully addressed the act's main provisions. For example, no plan established the specified 5- and 10-year objectives. Most plans included only general goals, and only three plans provided analysis supporting these goals. The administrations' differing views on the federal role in energy as well as new energy developments influenced the content of the plans and the degree to which they addressed the law's provisions. GAO believes that although the law provides a useful framework for developing an energy policy, the frequency and timing requirements have not contributed to effective planning. As a result, plans are unlikely to involve the comprehensive planning exercise Congress envisioned.

GAO found that: (1) NEPP submissions since 1979 have varied significantly in their compliance with the law and no plan has fully addressed the law's provisions; (2) most plans have contained strategies for achieving general goals, but none set the required 5- and 10-year objectives and few supported their statements with analyses supporting these goals; (3) the administrations' differing views on the government's role in energy planning, supply, and price regulation have influenced NEPP content; (4) all the plans have described energy trends as required, and most plans have discussed the trends' effects on the economy; (5) only the 1991 NEPP has discussed energy trends' impact on the environment; (6) the depth of data and analyses has varied among the plans; (7) each administration has solicited input through public hearings as required except for the 1987 plan; (8) energy planning is difficult due to conflicting national goals, differing agency missions, regional disparities in energy supplies, and energy policy's impact on other policy matters; (9) energy experts believe that the energy planning process is beneficial, since it leads to periodic assessment of long-term energy trends and provides a forum for competing interests to express their views; (10) experts believe that the plans should include energy goals, but not all believe that specific dates should be included; and (11) the law's provisions provide a useful framework for achieving planning benefits, but the requirement for biennial submissions is not conducive to good planning, particularly in the early months of new administrations.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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