Twenty-eight years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third Arab-Israeli war occurred since the establishment of Israel in 1948. Shortly after this war started, the US supplied $2.2 billion of special supplemental military aid to Israel. The Arab oil-producing nations retaliated by placing an oil embargo on shipments to the US and certain other countries. This boycott removed 10% of the free world's oil supplies from the normal channels of international trade. The war lasted only 16 days; the boycott lasted 5 months.
In 1973, prior to the boycott, the US was importing 900,000 b/d of crude oil from the Arab countries, used primarily for heating oil on the East Coast. There was 2,000,000 b/d at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska that was not available because construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline had been held up for over 4 years in Congress with environmental hearings.
This boycott of 1973 was the first successful use of oil as a political weapon. The Arab countries also nationalized oil companies' properties and increased prices by 150%. Congress-led by representatives from the heavily populated consuming states-devoted its time to harassing the domestic oil industry. They imposed punitive taxes, costly regulations, two-tier prices, and other legislation that would make us more dependent on those who had just imposed this boycott.
Our own government had placed our national security, economic viability, and the welfare of every citizen in the hands of foreign countries. Our armed forces had to be sent to these countries to protect this supply of oil. In three different terrorist attacks, 304 of our servicemen and women were killed. Our nation also had to go to war because of oil.
After 28 years, recent events may help Congress to fully recognize the gravity of the energy problems that our country faces. Energy should never have been allowed to be a political issue.
Doyle T. Grogan
Denver
