Suggested Ways to Reduce Oil Imports Have a Familiar Ring

Remember the “energy crisis,” the “moral equivalent of war,” lowered thermostats, a President wearing a sweater?

The Energy Department would just as soon not remind anyone of the last time around, but on Wednesday, Day 13 of the crisis in the Persian Gulf, Energy Secretary James D. Watkins unveiled a list of steps to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Several sounded hauntingly familiar.

Until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United States imported roughly 600,000 barrels of oil each day from the two Middle Eastern nations now under an international embargo. Americans could replace 100,000 barrels a day of that missing oil simply by keeping the tires on their cars inflated to the proper pressure, Watkins said Wednesday. Soft tires increase friction and cut down on a car’s fuel efficiency.

Another 50,000 barrels a day could be saved if drivers observed speed limits, according to government calculations. But the Bush Administration, at least for now, has no plans to ask that existing limits be lowered the way then-President Jimmy Carter did during the last big oil crisis.

Yet another 90,000 barrels could be saved by increased use of car and van pools, while 40,000 barrels could be saved if families that have two cars used the more efficient one when they have a choice. According to government statistics, more than half the households in America have two or more cars often with large disparities in fuel economy.

In addition to those energy savings--enough to make up about 280,000 barrels of oil daily--Watkins said that increased supply measures could bring an additional 270,000 barrels of domestic oil to the market by the end of the year. A key part of that strategy is breaking an impasse over production from the Point Arguello oil project offshore from Santa Barbara, which Watkins estimated could produce 75,000 barrels a day.