Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
Economic disruptions we and others are experiencing stem in part from the
fact that the world price of petroleum has quadrupled in the last year. But
in all honesty, we cannot put all of the blame on the oil-exporting
nations. We, the United States, are not blameless. Our growing dependence
upon foreign sources has been adding to our vulnerability for years and
years, and we did nothing to prepare ourselves for such an event as the
embargo of 1973.
During the 1960's, this country had a surplus capacity of crude oil which
we were able to make available to our trading partners whenever there was a
disruption of supply. This surplus capacity enabled us to influence both
supplies and prices of crude oil throughout the world. Our excess capacity
neutralized any effort at establishing an effective cartel, and thus the
rest of the world was assured of adequate supplies of oil at reasonable
prices.
By 1970, our surplus capacity had vanished, and as a consequence, the
latent power of the oil cartel could emerge in full force. Europe and
Japan, both heavily dependent on imported oil, now struggle to keep their
economies in balance. Even the United States, our country, which is far
more self-sufficient than most other industrial countries, has been .put
under serious pressure.
I am proposing a program which will begin to restore our country's surplus
capacity in total energy. In this way, we will be able to assure ourselves
reliable and adequate energy and help foster a new world energy stability
for other major consuming nations.
But this Nation and, in fact, the world must face the prospect of energy
difficulties between now and 1985. This program will impose burdens on all
of us with the aim of reducing our consumption of energy and increasing our
production. Great attention has been paid to the considerations of
fairness, and I can assure you that the burdens will not fall more harshly
on those less able to bear them.
I am recommending a plan to make us invulnerable to cutoffs of foreign oil.
It will require sacrifices, but it--and this is most important--it will
work.
I have set the following national energy goals to assure that our future is
as secure and as productive as our past:
First, we must reduce oil imports by 1 million barrels per day by the end
of this year and by 2 million barrels per day by the end of 1977.
Second, we must end vulnerability to economic disruption by foreign
suppliers by 1985.
Third, we must develop our energy technology and resources so that the
United States has the ability to supply a significant share of the energy
needs of the free world by the end of this century.
To attain these objectives, we need immediate action to cut imports.
Unfortunately, in the short term there are only a limited number of actions
which can increase domestic supply. I will press for all of them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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