Word: petroleum
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...primary argument in favor of proceeding apace with Alaskan development is that the U.S. desperately needs energy. "Prohibiting development of ANWR will not eliminate the risk of future spills," says the American Petroleum Institute. "It will only ensure that the country is deprived of a potentially large source of petroleum vital to its economy and its energy security." That same argument was used by President Bush in his budget message to Congress...
...ocean dispersed them; the hemorrhage from the tanker Exxon Valdez is the first big spill to foul an enclosed body of cold water. Clifton Curtis, executive director of the Oceanic Society, predicts that the oil deposits on the bottom will act "as lethal time-release capsules," turning loose "harmful petroleum hydrocarbons for months and even years." Birds, fish and marine animals such as seals and otters that are not killed quickly by being coated with crude will still be in danger, as the bottom oil contaminates first microorganisms, then the small fish that eat them, then the larger creatures...
While the price of petroleum is still a long way from its $35-a-bbl. peak in 1981, the U.S. is sliding back to a level of dependence on foreign sources not seen since the oil-shock days of the 1970s. January petroleum imports averaged 8.1 million bbl. a day, up almost 21% from a year ago and surpassing domestic production (8 million bbl.) for the first time in more than a decade. The import surge has hampered efforts to shrink the U.S. trade deficit, and rising prices have aggravated inflationary pressure...
...supply of crude, as OPEC did in the 1970s? In the short run, the U.S. would not experience dire shortages. A Commerce Department study found that in the event of war, the country's demand for fuel could be met by domestic production and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Created 13 years ago, the reserve is now up to 515 million bbl., equivalent to about three months' total consumption, stored in salt caverns along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana...
...Government study concluded, however, that if foreign supplies were cut off oil prices would quickly skyrocket, inevitably sending the economy into a tailspin. Because production takes years to gear up, the U.S. petroleum industry could not fully make up the slack of the lost imports. Says John Boatwright, Exxon's chief domestic economist: "It's not a garden hose you can turn...