Yesterday, I wrote
about the shortcomings of the Romney energy plan, saying that by
looking simply at supply-side, it only goes halfway; a real energy
policy addresses both demand and supply sides. There is one part of the
plan, however, that I want to highlight because I believe it deserves
praise.
The section that stands out as genuinely new and innovative is Romney’s plan to transfer control over energy production on federal lands to states. A Romney Administration would allow states to “establish processes to oversee the development and production of all forms of energy on federal lands within their borders” with the exception of lands “specially designated off-limits” (presumably national parks and the like). Federal agencies would certify state’s regulations as meeting an “adequate” level, but would leave most of the decisions to the states themselves. Romney would then encourage a “State Energy Development Council” that would allow states to share best practices and work together. This idea of Energy Federalism would allow states – the “laboratories of Democracy” in Justice Brandeis’ terminology – to test different regimes for energy production.
For the country that leads the world in capitalism and private ownership, the federal control over lands through the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and others is a strange idea. In 11 states, all in the West, the Federal Government claims ownership of more than 50% of the total land. In Nevada and Utah, it holds greater than 70%. Most of that is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, which owns more than 245 million acres of land, an area about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. The BLM also manages 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral rights, meaning that in many areas (again, mostly in the West), the owners of land above ground have no rights to the mineral or fossil-fuel rights below ground.
Read more: http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2012/08/31/energy-federalism-a-good-idea-in-the-romney-plan/
The section that stands out as genuinely new and innovative is Romney’s plan to transfer control over energy production on federal lands to states. A Romney Administration would allow states to “establish processes to oversee the development and production of all forms of energy on federal lands within their borders” with the exception of lands “specially designated off-limits” (presumably national parks and the like). Federal agencies would certify state’s regulations as meeting an “adequate” level, but would leave most of the decisions to the states themselves. Romney would then encourage a “State Energy Development Council” that would allow states to share best practices and work together. This idea of Energy Federalism would allow states – the “laboratories of Democracy” in Justice Brandeis’ terminology – to test different regimes for energy production.
For the country that leads the world in capitalism and private ownership, the federal control over lands through the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and others is a strange idea. In 11 states, all in the West, the Federal Government claims ownership of more than 50% of the total land. In Nevada and Utah, it holds greater than 70%. Most of that is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, which owns more than 245 million acres of land, an area about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. The BLM also manages 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral rights, meaning that in many areas (again, mostly in the West), the owners of land above ground have no rights to the mineral or fossil-fuel rights below ground.
Read more: http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2012/08/31/energy-federalism-a-good-idea-in-the-romney-plan/
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