Energy and the Environment: The Tradeoffs for New England

The consumption pattern of energy in the United States, like that of other resources, is determined by many variables. Principal among these are price and convenience. The price of energy has been and continues to be a complicated function of physical availability, international politics, government price regulation, import controls, technological innovation, and environmental regulation, to name but a few of the more important variables. Contrary to popular belief, however, environmental regulations have never been the primary reason fgr either the growth or decline of any major source. The consumption of coal, the dirtiest of our fossil fuels, hit its peak, at 77 percent of total energy supply, in 1910. Its relative use has declined since that time because of the availability and convenience of liquid and gaseous fuels -not because of air pollution regulations. Similarly, the consumption of natural gas, the cleanest of our fuels, grew dr,amatically after World War II because of its convenience and low price, ~he latter largely the result of Federal price controls. Recent environmental laws have of course made it more costly to burn dirtier fuels. But within the last five years sulfur oxide scrubbers have been developed to meet EPA emission restrictions. Moreover, a whole range of alternative (if not new) technologies promises to allow the burning of coal essentially without air pollution. Environmental regulations, therefore, can and will affect the pattern of energy use primarily through the pricing adjustments necessary to produce "clean" energy as measured by the various standards of environmental quality. One of the major goals of the environmental movement is to include within the price of energy all of the social, environmental, and public health costs and risks incurred in its production and consumption. In adopting this essentially economic goal, we environmentalists appear to stand alone. Consumer advocates, energy producers and converters, and politicians continually press for a wide