Key to this policy is recognition of the true cost of imported oil, such as considering the cost of providing military preparedness and responses to deter despotic tyrants, particularly in the Middle East. The government can reduce environmental degradation through regulating pollution and limiting access to sensitive areas. But the national government's role should be limited to setting standards and leaving the implementation to the states and producers. All too often, government not only sets the standard and the prescribes the management and the methodology to get the job done. Only it doesn't get done in the most effective and efficient way.
Innovation is discouraged, punishment is preferred over compliance, and costs are driven up.
The end goal of a better environment is soon lost in the fray as government measures compliance with regulations rather than with achievement of an enhanced goal. Regulation should be goals driven and incentive based. The EPA unsure what to do with the proposal, forwarded it to an ad hoc group of environmentalists, who in 1997 had refused to continue to participate in the consensus process that guided state reviews. They have not. Significant to an energy policy is the development of new technologies through funding of energy research, development of commercial applications, and demonstrations through the private sector.