The problem with energy policy at the national level is that no one is in command of all the resources or the players who make and implement policy. For the most part, the US energy industry is a highly competitive and efficient market in which the private sector has a commanding role. However, as federal and state governments further deregulate electric power and the fuels for electricity generation, the ability of our unique federal, state and local governments to implement the critical changes necessary for investment, operations and sighting new facilities declines.
Only the energy market and its many collective participants can bring about a major change in direction, and they are notoriously unwilling to achieve consensus.
That has not deterred President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney from giving it the old college try. After several months of selective consultation with key people in the energy sector - the list of people and groups not consulted is better known than the ones that were - the Bush administration addressed a list of more than 100 initiatives, which must appear as old wine in new bottles.
So what can President Bush do?
In the case of petroleum products and refining, he can encourage the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be more flexible than it was last summer in applying reformulated regulations in times of high gasoline demand. The Clinton administration did not do this, and it was a critical factor in the run-up of gasoline prices early in the summer of 2000.
Bush can try to work with Congress, which is under the control of the Democrats, to agree on more than 30 of the initiatives in the Bush plan. This will take more sensitivity than has been demonstrated, but effective leadership can make a difference with Congress, which for the most part wants to do the right thing for the nation.
To the administration's credit, it has identified a few things in the federal domain in which it can make a difference. The majority, however, lie in the vast jungle of private and public authority.
This will require a combination of leadership, charisma, education, persuasion and oration, which would be a challenge for Jack Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. This will take more thinking, strategy and planning than the Bush administration has demonstrated. Can President Bush grow into a leader who can move the key players in energy and business to work together? This is the challenge.
President Bush wants to do a good job for the American people, but that will take a pragmatic, nonideological approach. He must think the problems through, understand how the economies and governments in America work, address the issues in an open and objective way, educate key players as well as the public, achieve consensus and persuade those of us who influence positive and negative decisions related to energy.
We at the Sarkey's Energy Center and the University of Oklahoma hope he does. We know we are willing and ready to support President Bush.
Let's get going, President Bush.

Dennis O'Brien (dobrien@ou.edu) is director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Policy and John A. & Donnie Brock Chair professor for energy and economics at the University of Oklahoma.

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