More than one year has passed since the Arab oil embargo threw a complacent America into temporary panic and made it clear that Americans have irrevocably added energy to food, clothing, and shelter as one of life's essentials. While the panic is gone, at least for now, the crisis is likely to be with us for a long time in one form or another. Our appetite for energy, already six times the world per capita average,¹ continues to grow faster than our capacity to develop new sources of supply.

Remarkable agreement exists among analysts as to the dimensions of the crisis. Its essence is that while the United States relies on oil and gas for 77 percent of its energy needs (46 percent oil, 31 percent natural gas) only about 10 years of proven domestic oil and gas reserves remain at current prices. Domestic crude oil production peaked in 1970 and has been steadily declining ever since.² United States' coal reserves will last more than 800 years at current rates of consumption, but coal presently constitutes only 18 percent of our usage, and efforts to increase that percentage carry high costs in terms of environmental damage and social disruption. It was our increasing reliance on imported sources of crude oil (35 percent of our crude oil needs in 1973) that put drivers into gas lines this time last year, and while they waited in those lines the per barrel price of imported crude oil rose from $3 to $11. Clearly, current usage patterns cannot continue much longer.