Energy Development and U. S. Government Policy: Recommendations for Using Market Forces to Achieve Optimum National Goals

. Public policy in the United States toward the energy sector consists of a variety of special legislation. some supportive and some punitive, which tends to work at cross purposes. Thus, some tax policies encourage energy production and promote energy conservatton. Simultaneously, many regulatory activities discourage energy production and promote consumption, as do selective taxes. A more effective policy for the sector's development would be the simultaneous elimination of both the special benefits given to various segments of the industry and the many obstacles that have been placed in its path. Specific recommendations to carry out this approach include repealing the windfall profits tax. eliminating the regulatory functions of the Department of Energy, cutting out the tax breaks for specialized energy projects, reducing obstacles which impede new energy projects, and removing the expenditure subsidies for highly specific energy activities that Congress has chosen to support.