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Author: William Green
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313389500
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
The dismantling of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation and the shelving of scores of synfuel plant proposals have triggered a need for a searching inquiry into the reasons why the initial promise of synfuels has not been realized. In this volume a distinguished group of political scientists, policy analysts, and energy planners apply the critical tools of economic, scientific, and political analysis in an attempt to illuminate why the dream of synthetic fuels development has ended, at least temporarily. The essays collected here grapple with a variety of problems surrounding the rise and demise of synthetic fuels development in the 1970s.
Author: William Green
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313389500
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
The dismantling of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation and the shelving of scores of synfuel plant proposals have triggered a need for a searching inquiry into the reasons why the initial promise of synfuels has not been realized. In this volume a distinguished group of political scientists, policy analysts, and energy planners apply the critical tools of economic, scientific, and political analysis in an attempt to illuminate why the dream of synthetic fuels development has ended, at least temporarily. The essays collected here grapple with a variety of problems surrounding the rise and demise of synthetic fuels development in the 1970s.
Author: Hervey Amsler Priddy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 912
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Book Description
The energy crisis during the presidency of Jimmy Carter stimulated several major pieces of legislation that together produced the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Energy Plan (NEP), the windfall profits tax, and the Energy Security Act of 1980 (ESA). This dissertation focuses on the Energy Security Act, which was signed into law on June 30, 1980, and created the congressionally chartered United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC), one of the initial efforts to provide the United States energy security. John Sawhill, nominated by Carter as the first SFC chair, was responsible for managing the corporation along with six other directors. The Senate confirmed none of these seven individuals. This inaction forced Carter to make recess appointments of Sawhill and four others to the SFC board. With the election of former California governor Ronald Reagan as president in November 1980, emphasis on the SFC and financial assistance for development of a domestic synthetic fuels industry diminished -- so much so that the corporation closed its doors in April 1986. The SFC funded four synthetic fuels projects. None survive today. During its life, Synfuels Corporation spent approximately $960 million. Congress authorized funding of $88 billion plus $35 million in annual administrative expenses (adjusted for inflation) for the SFC, with a maximum of three hundred full-time professional employees, over its legislated twelve-year existence. The mandated goal was the production of at least five hundred thousand barrels of crude oil equivalent per day of synthetic fuels from domestic sources by 1987 and at least two million per day by 1992. The SFC was legislatively chartered to be free of normal government rules, regulations, and procedures. Carter did not want the synthetic fuels effort to be housed within the Department of Energy. He knew that to meet the goals of the act, any entity must be able to move with speed and be permitted to pay above government-level salaries. Reagan, who did not like the SFC or its mandate, preferred the free market with little or no government interference. Congress simply could not leave the SFC alone, however. So instead of a seven-member board of directors, the SFC ended up with a board of 542 -- counting members of Congress. This dissertation provides an in-depth look at the SFC, Carter's solution to the energy crisis as presented in his July 15, 1979 address to the nation on energy and national goals, commonly referred to as "The Malaise Speech." This talk from the Oval Office, was unique, and remains today the most unusual presidential address in the nation's history. Historians have written and analyzed the first half, a sermon emphasizing all that was wrong with America, but few writers have done the same for second half of the speech, which is the subject of this paper. In the latter part of his speech, Carter emphasized his solution to the country's malaise: solving America's energy shortage, to be accomplished by what he termed an "energy security corporation." Only two authors have examined the SFC. Sabrina Willis penned a 1987 essay titled "The Synthetic Fuels Corporation as an Organizational Failure in Policy Mobilization," which appeared in The Unfilled Promise of Synthetic Fuels, edited by Ernest J. Yanarella and William Green. She argued that SFC problems were "so many and so serious that it is difficult to determine exactly why the corporation failed to come [even] close to achieving the goals set for it by Congress . . . ." Willis was particularly critical of Ed Noble, appointed as chair of the board of directors by Reagan, when she wrote, "his [Noble] managerial style was too weak to effectively guide a controversial organization." Willis did not have access to the SFC papers, staff or members of the board of directors. Furthermore, she did not research or make use of the plethora of published congressional hearings. Although her examination was superficial, it was definitely pointed. In 2011, Ralph L. Bayrer, former SFC vice president of projects, published his account, The Saga of the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation: A Cautionary Tale. Bayrer, an engineer by education and profession, addressed primarily the engineering aspects of the SFC projects. He presented a favorable assessment of Noble and his leadership. Noble, in Bayrer's opinion, "had a clear view of what he [Noble] wanted to achieve at the SFC," and several "accomplishments" while chair of the Synthetic Fuels Corporation. Bayrer dedicated his book to Noble, noting the SFC "came to a premature end," and had David Stockman, Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget not intervened, Noble would have been almost successful in his strategic vision. Bayrer, however, did not interview former employees, former board members, or congressional leaders and their staffs. He relied instead on congressional hearings and his own papers. Because Bayrer worked for the SFC from its beginning to the end, the viewpoints in his publication are thus clouded by personal involvement. He did provide invaluable assistance to the author though, answering questions about the projects and providing needed documents, for which the author is most grateful. Yet, after considerable research and numerous interviews, the author does not agree with Bayrer's assessment of the SFC. The United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation was a superb idea. Its objective was a bold step by a president to address America's addiction to imported crude oil, which had made the nation vulnerable to the vagaries of an unstable region of the world. Unfortunately, a vacuum of presidential leadership, congressional meddling, and embarrassingly poor management cursed the SFC from its very creation. Almost a full year -- 351 days -- passed from the date Carter offered the concept of the SFC to the nation until its enactment into law. Moreover, Carter's distraction with a possible primary opponent, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), whom he disliked intensely, hampered the president's ability to remain focused on the issue, as well as his view of the presidency as a trusteeship, above politics. After the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, all interest in supporting synthetic fuels evaporated. The SFC became merely a place to repay political donors and friends -- and minor ones at that. By thoroughly examining the rise and demise of the United States Synthetic Fuels Corporation, historians will be able to see prima facie evidence of the importance of commitment, persistence, and leadership -- both presidentially and managerially -- and how it is possible for a government entity to vanish into the dust bin of history. And, we will be able to answer the questions: what was the SFC, what did it accomplish, what happened to it, and why?
Author: Chi-Jen Yang
Publisher: Cambria Press
ISBN: 1604976365
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
This book is a comparative study of two energy policies that illustrates how and why technical fixes in energy policy failed in the United States. In the post-WWII era, the U.S. government forcefully and consistently endorsed the development of civilian nuclear power. It adopted policies to establish the competitiveness of civilian nuclear power far beyond what would have occurred under free-market conditions. Even though synthetic fuel was characterized by a similar level of economic potential and technical feasibility, the policy approach toward synthetic fuel was sporadic and indeterminate. The contrast between the unfaltering faith in nuclear power and the indeterminate attitude toward synthetic fuel raises many important questions. The answers to these questions reveal provocative yet compelling insights into the policy-making process. The author argues that these diverging paths of development can be explained by exploring the dominant government ideology of the time or "ideology of the state" as the sociology literature describes it. The forceful support for nuclear power was a result of a government preoccupied with fighting the Cold War. The U.S. national security planners intentionally idealized and deified nuclear power to serve its Cold War psychological strategy. These psychological maneuverings attached important symbolic meaning to nuclear power. This symbolism, in turn, explains the society-wide enthusiasm. The fabricated myth of the Atomic Age became a self-fulfilling prophecy and ushered in a bandwagon market. On the other hand, a confused, indeterminate, and relatively powerless welfare state stood behind synthetic fuel. The different ideologies of the state explain the government's different attitudes toward nuclear and synfuel endeavors. The overarching discovery is a mode of "belief-based decision-making" in long-term energy planning. This discovery goes against the prevalent assumption of rational choice in social sciences. The author argues that rational-choice assumption is inapplicable because of the extreme long-term nature of energy planning. It is not usually possible to predict the sociopolitical and economic conditions in the distant future. Rational decisions require supporting information, which often includes impossible long-term foresights. One cannot rationally choose between one unknown and another unknown. Pivotal decisions in long-term energy planning must inevitably be belief based, and beliefs are subject to political manipulation and distortions by social mechanisms. Understanding these peculiar but pervasive characteristics of energy business bears important lessons for today's decision making about energy technologies, and the stakes, if anything, are even higher than before. Energy policy communities; historians of the Cold War, American history, and technology; and sociologists would find this book an invaluable resource.
Author: Peter J. T. Morris
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 151281816X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204
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Book Description
This history of the government-funded synthetic rubber research program (1942-1956) offers a rare analysis of a cooperative research program geared to the improvement of existing products and the creation of new ones. The founders of the program believed the best way to further research in the new field was through collaboration among corporations, universities, and the federal government. Morris concludes that, in fact, the effort was ultimately a failure and that vigorous competition proves the best way to stimulate innovation. Government programs, like the rubber research program, are far better at improving existing products, the author contends, than creating wholly new ones.
Author: Edward Jack Hoffman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Synthetic fuels
Languages : en
Pages : 368
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Book Description
Author: Christopher J. Castaneda
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521567329
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 328
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Book Description
A study of the changing relationship between regulatory policy and the modern corporation.
Author: Joseph Russell Rudolph
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810830110
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198
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Book Description
A road map for the novice researcher contemplating the broad field affected by and concerned with energy.
Author: Michael L. Berger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313016062
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 516
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Book Description
This comprehensive reference guide reviews the literature concerning the impact of the automobile on American social, economic, and political history. Covering the complete history of the automobile to date, twelve chapters of bibliographic essays describe the important works in a series of related topics and provide broad thematic contexts. This work includes general histories of the automobile, the industry it spawned and labor-management relations, as well as biographies of famous automotive personalities. Focusing on books concerned with various social aspects, chapters discuss such issues as the car's influence on family life, youth, women, the elderly, minorities, literature, and leisure and recreation. Berger has also included works that investigate the government's role in aiding and regulating the automobile, with sections on roads and highways, safety, and pollution. The guide concludes with an overview of reference works and periodicals in the field and a description of selected research collections. The Automobile in American History and Culture provides a resource with which to examine the entire field and its structure. Popular culture scholars and enthusiasts involved in automotive research will appreciate the extensive scope of this reference. Cross-referenced throughout, it will serve as a valuable research tool.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Carbon dioxide mitigation
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
Author: Peter Z. Grossman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107005175
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
This book presents an analytic history of American energy policy, examining policy failures and how the policy process itself leads to failure.
