Time Essay: How to Counter OPEC

(3 of 3)

Salvation ultimately lies in developing alternative energies, but that will take many years. At OPEC's new prices, oil from the almost limitless supplies of U.S. shale now becomes competitive, but shale oil probably will not be available in quantity until 1990. Solar technology also has large promise but is still in its swaddling clothes. Two of the most promising alternatives for quick use are methane, which can be produced from garbage or manure, and alcohol, which can be made from grain and almost any other organic matter. The manufacture of both should be encouraged through tax incentives. Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff has introduced a sensible bill that would require that 20% of all gasoline sold in the U.S. must come from oil alternatives.

Having done almost nothing in the six years since the Arab oil embargo, the Congress, roused at last, is considering no fewer than five major bills to subsidize the multibillion-dollar development of alternative energies. In the process of hurry-up and waste, much of the money will go down ratholes. But some of the subsidies will produce breakthroughs, just as urgent drives put men on the moon exactly ten years ago. Like it or not, the U.S. is now involved in a new war for independence. The only way it can win is to be prepared to conserve, convert, compromise and develop.