US Election note: Energy policy after 2012
US Election note: Energy policy after 2012 / Josh Freed and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Chatham House, October 2012, 8 p.
http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Americas/1012usen_energy.pdf
Summary points (© Chatham House) :
• Thanks to continued partisan gridlock, major congressional action on energy is unlikely after the 2012 elections. However, this could change if there is a deal to address the budget deficit or if one party makes significant gains in seats.
• Domestic oil and natural gas production will continue to grow under either Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.
• A second Obama administration would be likely to seek to accelerate the commercialization and deployment of clean energy through a mix of tax incentives, encouraging private financing, and regulation of conventional and climate pollutants.
• A Romney administration would be likely to focus on increasing domestic conventional energy production by reducing environmental regulation, particularly on coal-burning power plants, and opening more public land to oil and natural gas development. Excluding basic research, government incentives for clean energy would be likely to be eliminated.