President Bush is attempting to build support for a national energy policy. This is bringing opposition from members of Congress representing states that need energy the most.
In 1952, President Harry Truman's Materials Policy Commission warned that in the 1970s, the US would be dependent on Middle East oil, which could result in a serious energy shortage. It happened. The recommendations from this report are as valid today as 49 years ago, and they are included in President Bush's energy policy.
President Richard Nixon in a special message to Congress, June 4, 1971, detailed a comprehensive energy policy because of brownouts and shortages of fuel in some areas of our country.
The recommendations in this report are incorporated into President Bush's energy policy.
The ultimate objective of a national energy policy should be to ensure the economic and strategic security of energy supplies. It is not good economics to have to pay $120 billion/year for imported crude oil and products.
Security of supplies costs taxpayers $60 billion/year, our military personnel are put at risk, and supplies can be interrupted in an instant.
After the oil embargo of 1973, when it was apparent that the US was vulnerable to disruptions in the supply of imported oil, the members of Congress should have agreed on an energy policy. Instead, they have spent 28 years in confrontation and political posturing. This has been costly for consumers.
By now it should be obvious and alarming to all our citizens-and hopefully to Congress-that to be a dominant world leader, with military superiority, we cannot allow foreign countries to control our crude oil, gasoline, jet fuel, and other oil supplies.
The lessons are clear. It is imperative that we do everything possible to increase the production of all domestic sources of energy, and at the same time, conserve to the utmost.
It is time for Congress to put our national interests first.
Doyle T. Grogan
Denver
