Electricity blackouts in California, skyrocketing heating bills and the likelihood of higher gasoline prices this summer are raising concerns about energy supplies. The Bush administration says the nation faces an “energy crisis” and calls for boosting domestic supplies of oil, coal and natural gas and building new nuclear power plants. Critics say that focusing more on increasing supply than on reducing demand would only worsen pollution and threaten sensitive habitat while discouraging conservation and a greater reliance on environmentally benign, renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. But supporters of the president's supply-side energy policy suggest that growth in energy demand is inevitable if Americans are going to maintain and improve their standard of living.

Mary H. Cooper specializes in environmental, energy and defense issues. Before joining CQ Researcher as a staff writer in 1983, she was a reporter and Washington correspondent for the Rome daily newspaper l'Unita. She is the author of The Business of Drugs (CQ Press, 1990). She also is a contract translator-interpreter for the U.S. State Department. Cooper graduated from Hollins College in English.