Energy Problem

Only the most blindly optimistic deny the existence of an "energy problem," and nostalgia for the golden age of cheap fuels has already begun.

Sounds familiar, like something you might hear an environmental activist or political pundit say on the cable news channels? You might be surprised to learn that this quote came from a 1979 book about the Kerr-McGee Corporation. At the time, oil was $20 a barrel and gas $1 a gallon. Now, we see those as the golden days.

We haven't seemed to learn much in the time since Innovations in Energy was published. We still lament the costs of energy - and the damage convention fuel inflicts on the environment - but fail to change our behavior. Fossil fuels have significant subsidies from the U.S. government, while renewable energy programs gain only a fraction of support. The military, realizing that dependence on foreign fuel is a security issue, has attempted to increase its use of renewable energy sources, but is stymied by Congress (Ashbrook). Instead, we drill in ever more delicate areas, such as the Arctic region, or we pump hazardous fluid into the ground in the attempt to extract fuel sources. I wonder when things will be bad enough we will change our ways.

Ezell, John Samuel (1979). Innovations in Energy: The Story of Kerr-McGee. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, p. xi.