Energy Task Force

The Energy Task Force, officially the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPDG), was a task force created by then-U.S. President George W. Bush in 2001 during his second week in office. Vice President Dick Cheney was named chairman. This group's stated objective was to “develop a national energy policy designed to help the private sector, and, as necessary and appropriate, State and local governments, promote dependable, affordable, and environmentally sound production and distribution of energy for the future." The final report was released on May 16, 2001.

The Bush Transition Energy Advisory Team shaped the administration’s supply-side energy policy administration and was a precursor to the Energy Task Force.

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham told a National Energy Summit on March 19, 2001 that America was going to face an energy supply crisis in the next 20 years. He believed that if America was not adequately prepared for those demands then the foundations for the prosperity of the country would be threatened. The Energy Task Force was developed to decrease American dependency on foreign petroleum, which the National Energy Policy deemed would have a negative effect on the US economy, standards of living and national security.

The Task Force was composed of Vice President Dick Cheney and the Secretaries of State, Treasury, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation and Energy, as well as other cabinet and senior administration-level officials. According to the GAO, these members held ten meetings over the course of three and a half months with petroleum, coal, nuclear, natural gas, and electricity industry representatives and lobbyists. None of the meetings were open to the public and no non-federal participants were involved. The first phase of the project was to inform the President of current energy supply problems and changes needed to the economic policy. This was completed on March 19, 2001, while the second phase, the presentation of the National Energy Policy, was completed on May 16, 2001.

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