Energy: A Priority in the President’s Second Term?

At the end of 2012, President Obama declared that domestic energy production would be a top priority in his second term. He said, “We’ve got a huge opportunity around energy. We are producing more energy, and America can become an energy exporter.”
We heard similar rhetoric during the president’s first term, when promises of pursing an “all of the above” energy strategy didn’t match policymaking. Though domestic energy production has increased significantly in the past few years due to technological advances and American innovation, the federal government has done virtually nothing to encourage it—and much to discourage it. While oil production on state and private lands has soared, it has declined on federal lands due to stringent restrictions. Further, proposed EPA rules threaten to shut down existing coal plants and effectively end construction of any new plants.