Why Do We Have a Department of Energy?

According to today's news,

During the last few days, Bush asked his Energy and Justice departments to open inquiries into possible cheating in the gasoline markets, said White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

My first thought was, "Gee, why did President Bush have to tell these people to look into the price of a gallon of gasoline? Isn't that why the Department of Energy exists in the first place? Isn't that what they are supposed to do?"

The Department of Energy was created in the late 1970's at the urging of then-President Jimmy Carter as a response to the OPEC oil embargo and the ensuing gasoline shortage.

If the Department of Energy needs the President to tell them what they should have been doing already then I don't see why we need them in the first place!