Hodel Warns of Gas Lines if Oil Development Lags

Americans will face long lines for gasoline in two to five years unless new domestic oil fields are developed, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel predicted today.

Hodel, appearing on the NBC-TV “Today” show, said an energy crisis similar to the one that gripped the country in 1973-74 after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an oil embargo is “almost a certainty” if depressed domestic production does not pick up.

The crisis will strike “within two to five years, and the reason for that is the dramatic reduction in American production of oil,” Hodel said.

“We’ve lost over 800,000 barrels a day of production in the United States,” Hodel said. “Our imports are approaching a million barrels a day more than they were just a year ago.”

About 39% of the oil used in the United States is imported. Hodel said this is a larger percentage than was the case in 1973.

The cause of the problem, he said, is cheap foreign oil.

Although he acknowledged that low prices have aided motorists and helped fuel the economic recovery, he said the country ought to enjoy cheap gasoline while it lasts because it won’t be around for very long.

“The more we count on” low prices, “the more likely it is that we’ll be in gas lines sooner rather than later,” he said.