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State governments play a major role in setting energy policy in the United States. They carry out most utility regulation, including passing laws banning offshore drilling in state waters, mandating renewable energy generation, and prohibiting the construction of new nuclear energy facilities. States also regulate hydropower to some extents, as both Oregon and Washington have water gassification standards (for fish protection) that the federal Bonneville Power Administration cannot exceed. States have also considered passing laws to mandate the shutdown of nuclear reactors, as well as to ban fracking. Some states even have cap and trade programs for pollutants such as sulfur.

This also extends to automobiles, with California having some of the most restrictive emission laws in the country. Because California is such a large market, this means that the California standards are often the standards to which all vehicles in the United States are built for. Occasionally though there are vehicles that are legal in all states but California.

Could United States energy policy become federalized, perhaps even to the extents of having utilities pricing regulated at the federal level, instead of the state level? Could this be done under the commerce clause, or would another part of the Constitution or another precedent be more suitable? Also, when would be a good time for this; the New Deal and energy demand collapse of the 1930s, or the energy crises of the 1970s?
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