Once again, the United States is learning a lesson about depending on energy from troublemakers that dominate global oil reserves.
The Bush administration cannot afford to ignore the urgency for a crash program—on the scale of World War II's atomic bomb Manhattan Project—to develop energy from new technologies and to stretching supplies through conservation.
A new crisis has erupted involving the terrorist Islamic regime of Iran, with the world's third largest oil reserves (125.8 billion barrels, behind Saudi Arabia, with 261.9 billion barrels, and Canada, 178.8 billion barrels) and the world's fourth largest exporter.
Iran is sending jitters through the Western world as it threatens to become a nuclear arms power. If economic sanctions are imposed on Iran, and its exports are choked off, 2.55 billion barrels a day would be taken out of the world's supply, causing worldwide economic damage.
At the same time, Washington is in a spat with the Marxist-leaning world's seventh largest oil nation, Venezuela, and is still far from rebuilding fourth-ranked Iraq's oil reserves to pre-invasion levels.
Rather than deepen our dependence on foreign oil and remain hostage to the whims of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Bush administration should launch a three-pronged attack on energy needs.
First, a mandate to Detroit automakers to dramatically increase the fuel efficiency of all vehicles. Automobiles account for more than 50 percent of daily oil demand.
Second, a new tax on gasoline and diesel to help discourage consumption.
Third, devoting the windfall of fuel taxes to a crash program to develop new technologies that conserve petroleum and that may be used for heating, propulsion and industrial production.
As profound and tragic a mistake it would be for Washington to ignore this urgent need and opportunity, alternatives exist. The states could declare their independence from indifference and lead. California, for example, already has faced down Detroit by ordering new air quality standards for automobiles sold in that state. The tougher rules indirectly improve fuel consumption.
Governors should be especially quick to understand the urgency for more sensible energy policies. Sudden interruptions of oil supplies or unreasonable price hikes work terrible hardships on state economies and the livelihoods of citizens.
If the lesson of uncertain foreign oil hasn't registered with the White House or Congress, governors should buttonhole the president, senators and congressmen and persuade them to "think American" on energy.
