Bringing a Libertarian Voice to the Table - Energy

As with the other Libertarian posts in this blog this one starts with the position as annunciated by the Libertarian party and then seeks to find approaches that are more positive in nature.

With regard to Energy the stated position of the Libertarian Party is contained in section 2.3 of their platform:

"2.3 Energy and Resources-
While energy is needed to fuel a modern society, government should not be subsidizing any particular for of energy. We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production."

http://www.lp.org/platform

In this short position statement the Libertarians do recognize that energy is vital to society - but leave no role for government in pricing, allocation, and production.  They also argue against subsidy of any sort of energy. The presumption then is that the private sector can and will handle all these matters.

They do not rule out research or standard setting.

Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and hydroelectric receive explicit subsidy today and the Libertarian plank would remove those subsidies. Nuclear receives some form of subsidy in the form of limited liability - and this would be gone. Less clear are implicit subsidies for oil producers where military action and infrastructure support enable profitable drilling for oil and gas overseas. It seems likely that Libertarian's would support protection of their property - but it is unclear.

Historic -
Oil
Gas
Electric
Infrastructure
Highways
Rails

Alternatives
Price on carbon
New industry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_subsidies