Carter Oil Crisis

For thirty years Americans have watched as our Presidents have debated over the foreign oil dilemma. Throughout those thirty years little has been accomplished. Research has been done and we have finally gotten the hybrid car on the market, but the use of foreign oil is still a drastic measure and keeps rising each year. There are many options America could use to end this war on oil. Some of them include the use of ethanol, hybrid cars, and nuclear power plants. We do use some of these, but perhaps we need to expand their use instead of looking to the Middle East to continue to supply our needs. However, we have not taken the time, nor initiative to research some of these ideas further. For instance, ethanol as a fuel is available in some
The Carter/Reagan Doctrine, named after the Presidents who endorsed it, led to a build up of United States forces in the Persian Gulf to protect our interest in oil. It has cost tax payers fifty billion dollars per year to maintain readiness to intervene; in addition to the sacrifice of American blood shed by soldiers who fought to protect that interest. The Carter/Reagan Doctrine was a good temporary plan, but not a long term one. It should have been a temporary protective measure put in place while research and technology for an alternative plan was being produced. As this tactic may have protected our interest in the Gulf, it is not perceived by critics to be a solution. Tom Collina Executive Director of 20/20 Vision explains that our goal should be to reduce the use of oil enough so that our national and economical security is no longer tied to the survival of the Saudi royal family or any other non-democratic oil producer. He further argues that then, and only then can our foreign policy be truly independent from our need for oil. Barry Serafin, journalist of The Journal Editorial Report, explains that we have squandered decades of opportunity to amend this problem. The chairman of the Energy Program also complains that we have lost the will to do anything about it. In the seventies America began researching
He goes on to explain that two thirds of the world's oil is in the Middle East, primarily Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. With their high volume of oil, the Middle East supplies large quantities of oil to other countries, as well as, America. For instance, China is second to the United States in their dependency on foreign oil, who imports half of their petroleum from the Middle East. As both countries continue to need more and more oil, America could eventually become a threat to China and possibly other countries who will also need more imported oil. The potential for future world crises could come from the need for oil. That is why there is an urgency to create other alternatives before the issue ripples into a massive world war. China has already taken steps to gear their country toward alternative means by setting fuel economy standards. America needs to follow suit and do the same and focus on the research needed to determine the best possible alternatives to foreign