26 Years Ago in TIME

High gas prices mean the debate over drilling in Alaska and off Florida won't end soon. One President facing a similar crisis launched a plan that included tapping ENERGY RESOURCES in the vast stillness of the mountain states.

It is under such silent lands as these that the boundless riches lie, awaiting the power shovel and the drill. Energy developers first began arriving in droves in 1973, when OPEC hiked its prices fourfold and jolted the nation's oil and gas companies into searching for additional supplies. Jimmy Carter gave the developers a big assist in 1979 when he announced his intention to tap the region's energy supplies by setting up an Energy Mobilization Board to speed up the building of refineries, pipelines, coal mines and synthetic fuel plants. He also proposed an Energy Security Corporation to funnel public funds for further research on developing the synthetic fuel industry. Though Congress voted down the board last summer, it approved a $20 billion program of loans and tax incentives to spur development of the industry. And so in many pockets of the West, the hard hat is edging out the Stetson. TIME, Dec. 15, 1980