THE BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN ENERGY - The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future - page 13

between Americans and their government. Some saw salvation in get-
ting Washington out of the energy business and counting mostly on
markets to deliver. Others insisted just as ardently that confronting mas-
sive economic, security, and environmental challenges meant the fed-
eral government would need to play a far more central role. A national
survey in 1977 asked Americans whether they wanted some govern-
ment involvement in boosting energy production and curbing energy
consumption or whether the task should be let to private companies
and individuals. h e split was sharp: “Half of [Americans] favored a
government program, while 41 percent felt things should be let to pri-
vate companies and the public.” 28
h e 1980 election was a landslide: Reagan won, carrying forty-
four of i t y states. Following his inauguration in January 1981, energy
quickly receded from view. As Reagan was being sworn in, the leaders of
the Iranian revolution released the i t y-two American hostages they'd
held for 444 days. h e price of imported oil, which had nearly tripled
over the previous two years, would soon peak and begin a steady fall. 29
Meanwhile, the new president quickly set to work on a far broader
agenda, targeting the federal tax code, the size and scope of govern-
ment, and the American role in the world.
h e two decades that followed were largely ones of relative calm
in the American energy world. Oil prices crashed in 1986 and then
l a t ened; with the exception of the months surrounding the i rst Gulf
War in 1991, they held fairly steady at levels not much higher than
they had been before the 1973 crisis. Natural gas, coal, and electricity
followed similarly benign paths. OPEC, the geopolitical power behind
the i rst energy crisis, fell into disarray, unable to sort out its internal
squabbles and thus incapable of threatening the world. Public at en-
tion to energy waned, and with it so did the pitched bat les of the
1970s. In 1985, when the i rst round of fuel economy standards ended,
Washington chose not to push farther. Around the same time, saddled
with low crude prices and declining reserves, U.S. oil production began
an apparently interminable decline. Meanwhile, U.S. energy consump-
tion rose, and with it so did the demand for fossil fuels. h e Reagan
administration, skeptical of government meddling in the economy, shut
down or starved alternative energy programs that had begun the decade