Texas' Energy Lessons From the 1970s
Unrest in the Middle East, rising oil prices and frustration with federal energy policy — for Texans of a certain age, today’s headlines must seem like déjà vu all over again. The current situation is far less severe than the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo. But the parallels are unmistakable.
Back then, state officials railed against federal price controls for natural gas because they reduced the incentive to hunt for new supplies. Today, Texas policymakers rage at Washington for moving too slowly to approve leases for deepwater offshore drilling, and for imposing tight environmental controls that could ...
Comments (2)
BiffTannen
Not that anybody would listen today, but Dolph Briscoe was right then, and he is right now.
Tom Horn
Isn't is just wonderful that Ronald Reagan shut down all the alternative energy programs started under the Carter Administration?
Ol' Ron looked just as tough in doing that as our wonderful governor (also with perfect hair) Rick Perry does now, by showing those Yankees who is boss in Texas by refusing all that money the Feds would give us if we would only agree to spend it on education.
All the coal gasification & advanced solar research (just to name two) started under Jimmy Carter. . .why, if we had kept going on that for the last 31 years--hell, it might have cut into the oil companies' profits. We'd rather just have the market determine how high the price of fossil fuels might go.
$5 or more for a gallon of gas? All the better for big oil!