This article explores the institutional architecture in place to govern energy in the US and its underlying principles. More specifically, it identifies the key institutions involved with energy decision-making, with an emphasis on the national level and key legislative acts of the past four decades. The second section explores six historic guiding principles connected with national energy production and use, and the third section identifies how each of these conditions is eroding. The fourth section highlights the general implications of this shift for energy governance, namely that energy decision-making is now complex, inconsistent, vertically and horizontally fragmented and politicized.
