Secretary Moniz speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on October 24, 2013. | Video courtesy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The 1973 oil embargo -- during which Arab members of OPEC collectively cut oil production for five months -- is often called one of the most significant events since the Great Depression for its lasting and pervasive effect on the U.S. economy. It also had lasting effects on U.S. energy policy for decades, spurring creation of appliance efficiency standards, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, all which still exist today.
America's energy landscape has changed significantly in the last four decades, and so have our energy security challenges. On Thursday, Secretary Moniz marked the 40th anniversary of the oil embargo in a policy speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
During his speech, the Secretary discussed the resonance of the embargo, where we’ve come since then and what the Energy Department is doing to address four major policy challenges in the path ahead:
Addressing the geopolitics of natural resources. Increased domestic energy resources have not made the U.S. immune from global oil price volatility. To deal with this challenge, the Energy Department supports increased domestic production -- a cornerstone of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy -- while continuing to reduce oil dependence through innovation and investments in alternative fuels, more efficient vehicles and more sustainable sources of critical materials.
Fighting the effects of climate change. As Secretary Moniz has said, the effects of climate change are not debatable. Common sense demands that we act now to fight climate change and prevent associated natural disasters and humanitarian crises. In support of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department is stepping up its efforts to increase efficiency, decarbonize power generation and build effective adaptation strategies.
Ensuring global nuclear security. Nuclear energy remains a critical source of low-carbon energy. However, the sustainability of the nuclear industry depends on addressing associated nonproliferation concerns. Among the Energy Department’s most important work are efforts to address nuclear waste disposal challenges, secure vulnerable nuclear materials and reduce the numbers of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Making our energy infrastructure more reliable. It is crucial to reduce the vulnerability of our energy infrastructure to extreme weather events -- like last year’s superstorm Sandy -- as well as cyber attacks and physical attacks. The Energy Department is working to make the grid more resilient and secure, and to address the complexities associated with energy-sector related response activities.
To learn more about how the Energy Department is addressing the future’s most pressing energy security challenges, watch Secretary Moniz’s speech above.