Increasing Prosperity, Resource Stewardship, and National Security

On January 20, 2017, a new U.S. president will take the oath of office. He or she will assume responsibility for assuring the safe, reliable, and affordable provision of energy for the country, a critical component of the economic health and security of the nation. This task will involve addressing a number of grave deficiencies in current energy policy and prioritizing several urgent energy initiatives. Laying a strong, early basis for new energy policy will enable the incoming administration to set the country on a path to aligning national energy capabilities and technological developments with economic and security needs, now and in the future. 

Energy touches all facets of life. The next generation of federal leaders must prioritize a sober approach to the following fundamental realities of our national energy system:

•  The national electricity grid will have to accommodate, in a safe and reliable manner, the integration of increasing renewable energy sources and new technologies. 
• Oil and gas will remain the dominant fuel source to power the global economy.
• The rise in domestic energy production over the last decade presents economic, climatic, and security benefits on which the next president can build. 
• Instability in key oil producing regions – primarily the Middle East, Africa, and Russia – will remain a significant source of economic and energy security concern for the United States.
• The aging domestic energy transportation system, including railways, pipelines, ports, and inland waterways, is in need of significant improvement and is vulnerable to critical infrastructure threats. 
• Political leaders must continue to address environmental and community concerns about the impacts of oil and gas development in order to sustain this critical industry and economic input.
• Climate change cannot be ignored, and national leaders must directly address this topic through a focus on research, development, and deployment of new energy technologies. 
• National leaders must advance a comprehensive view of energy security to encompass supply, trade, efficiency, infrastructure, development of technologies, resiliency, and emergency response. 

Facing these structural elements of the energy system head-on in new policy will enable the next president to mitigate vulnerabilities that will continue to threaten U.S. prosperity and security: unrest and supply disruption in major producing countries, and the price shock–related consequences disruptions could pose to such countries and global consumers. At home, energy system vulnerabilities include aging and at-risk infrastructure, including transportation systems. They also include the deeply politicized public debates about energy production and natural resource stewardship. 

This report outlines for the next administration a bipartisan agenda to advance sound energy policy in the first 100 days after inauguration and in the years ahead. Partisanship and local interests have created deep and difficult-to-surmount policy impediments. In many instances and forums, divisive debate about science, environmental effects of energy production, and how to monitor, permit, and regulate energy activities block progress toward creating more contemporary and cost-effective energy policy. A sustained effort at the executive level to forge common ground, building on some recent examples of success, can achieve progress. Indeed, this must be a priority for resilience, U.S. strength, and global leadership.