One thing that happened under Carter was the deregulation of natural gas (the 1978 Natural Gas Policy Act). Before that, wellhead prices were federally regulat

One thing that happened under Carter was the deregulation of natural gas (the 1978 Natural Gas Policy Act). Before that, wellhead prices were federally regulated. It's difficult to understand now, but natural gas was viewed as something in short supply back then that had to be price controlled. Of course the causation was in the other direction: price controls led to shortage, and once those were removed enormous new sources of gas began to be uncovered, eventually leading to the fracking revolution. Today in the US natural gas is a colossus, having beaten down coal and nuclear.