Book excerpt: The BNL Regional Studies Program is part of a national effort supported by the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) to create an energy assessment capability sensitive to regional conditions, perceptions, and impacts. Within ERDA, this program is supported by the Division of Technology Overview and includes, in addition to a concern for health and environmental impacts of energy systems, analysis of the complex trade-offs between economics, environmental quality, technical considerations, national security, social impacts, and institutional questions. The Brookhaven Program focuses on the Northeast including the New England States, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. The content of the program is determined through an identification of the major energy planning issues of the region in consultation with state and regional agencies. A major component of the program in 1976 was the Northeast Energy Perspectives Study which examined the implication of alternative energy supply-demand possibilities for the region. In 1977 a major component is the northeast portion of the National Coal Utilization Assessment carried out in collaboration with several other laboratories in other regions of the United States.