On energy policy, U.S. has come a long way from ‘jawboning’
Vincent DeVito
During President George W. Bush's administration, we used the term “jawboning” to address just about any energy crisis. This was a policy Bush set in 1999, when he was a candidate: "What I think the president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say “We expect you to open your spigots ... and the president … must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price ...”
Well, that's all we had as a tool to move the global energy markets amid political realities.
It was an ineffective tool.
But times have changed, and for the better. President Obama is the first U.S. leader in modern history who is fully enabled to play the geopolitical energy game with a new weapon: the big shale gas bang in the U.S., which has created a new global supplier and transformed the dynamics of the global energy market. As Russia continues to levy threats of cutting energy supplies to the Ukraine, the European Union and the NATO allies, the president can do more than jawbone.
Working with Congress, he can eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that prevent the approval of natural gas exports. The president can declare targeted exporting proposals to be in our national interest and expedite their approval through the Department of Energy.
The U.S. is now in a position to use energy supply as a source of influence over Russian foreign and military policy and exercise tremendous leverage. This is a distinct advantage not available five or six years ago. Since 2006, Russia has twice cut fuel supplies to Ukraine, leaving a destabilizing effect on the European Union. This also reflects the need for the much-promoted “all of the above” energy use strategy here and in Europe. It's not just a resource solution; it calls for conserving energy, recycling, and using modern technology to enhance existing energy sources and create new ones.
Today's energy economy is moving toward adopting clean technology and making impactful investments in related innovation. This is more than apparent in Massachusetts, where there is strong investment and incentives. This has forged an impactful cluster of entrepreneurs, established business and industry professionals, financiers and early-stage companies working together to support growth in this sector.
These clusters are moving beyond the Boston-Cambridge area to other parts of the state, including Central Massachusetts. This connectivity is being buttressed by the state's Clean Energy Center. Technology-driven transformation is what sparked the shale gas boom in the U.S. and puts us in a new position for local economic expansion and new global influence. n
Vincent DeVito, an attorney with Bowditch & Dewey, was an assistant secretary of energy for policy and international affairs under President George W. Bush. He's also a board member for the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on the economy and the environment.
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