Some lessons from new deal-era energy governance for a warming world

Keywords: new deal, energy, political economy, U.S., natural gas
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 29

Abstract

The researcher will present an early draft of a framework for the concept of new deal energy governance, based on a case study of natural gas regulation in the U.S. For this study, the researcher uncovered how the administration of prices, setting of fair rates of return, and oversight of depreciation (stranding) of private energy company assets allowed for forty years of stable, sufficiently profitable, and affordable energy for U.S. power market during the new deal era. Archival research into that period, conducted in the era of global warming, reveals how the public regulation of energy companies worked, for whom, and what expectations could be made of the public sector in confronting the climate emergency today. Lessons from the new deal era that could improve current energy governance matter because attempts to stop global warming under the neoliberal order have failed. Dozens of neoliberal energy governance methods, proposed as alternatives to government intervention in markets, have failed to address global warming. The success of corporate governance and market-led solutions for global warming has been to delay concerted opposition to mounting emissions for thirty years. A new, public, approach is needed, and lessons for this response can be drawn from the past.