The debate about the relationship between energy policy and national security is nothing new. The domestic oil and gas industry has raised these questions since the 1930s.
The nation's leaders recognized this important connection and enacted laws that encouraged the development for crude oil and natural gas reserves coast-to-coast. Winston Churchill even proclaimed after World War II that the Allies' victory came about primarily because of the huge oil production supplied by the United States.
In the 1960s, however, the attitudes of politicians in Washington changed toward the domestic oil and gas industry. By 1973, the first embargo against the U.S., the attitude of some politicians and news media grew bitter amid allegations that the oil companies were conspiring with foreign countries to raise the price for crude oil for their own selfish gain.
Some members of Congress seized upon this opportunity to call in the leaders of the major oil companies to testify. The dog-and-pony- show was nothing more than an opportunity to get their picture in the newspaper or on television in an effort to make political gain with the public, which was going through an economic crunch caused by rising energy costs and inflation.
Crude oil imports increased from 30 percent in the 1970s to 60 percent some 30 years later.
The recent happenings in Iran are another reminder that crude oil is a very, very important commodity to not only the U.S., but also to the world. Iran has used the "oil weapon" before, and it said last week that it would stop tanker traffic from and to the Persian Gulf by blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington responded with a strong warning against any attempt to disrupt shipping at the entrance to the Gulf, through which more than a third of the world's tanker-borne oil passes.
"Interference with the transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz will not be tolerated," Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
The strait is a strategic choke point linking the Gulf's petroleum-exporting states of Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to the Indian Ocean.
The U.S. maintains a naval presence in the Gulf in large part to ensure that passage for oil remains free.
Of course, this is not the first time that Iran has threatened to stop ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which is only 34 miles wide and it is the only sea passage to the open ocean from the oil rich area. In 1988, the Navy fought Iranian forces in the area of the strait. U.S. forces sank a frigate, a gunboat and about six armed speedboats following the mining of the USS Samuel B. Roberts.
It is obvious that the interests of the world rely upon the free-flow of crude oil from the Middle East. Some may call that national security; others may call it common sense.
Alex Mills is president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. Contact him at email@example.com.
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