Every U.S. president since Richard Nixon has developed a formal energy policy, and Bill Clinton is no exception. His Dept. of Energy unveiled its Comprehensive National Energy Strategy Apr. 8 amid considerably less fanfare than that accompanying the release of the previous documents, which were published in times when energy supply and price were more of a national concern.
Among other goals, the 61-page Clinton plan calls for: restructuring of electric utilities; energy conservation in the transportation, industrial, and building sectors; maintaining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to protect against future oil-supply disruptions; greater use of technology to recover oil with less environmental impact; developing renewable energy sources; and designing a greenhouse-gas trading system.
Unlike its predecessors, the Clinton policy statement does not set a target date for specific reduction in the nation's dependence on oil imports.
