News & Events

Nearly four years ago, in March of 2001, I delivered my first major policy address as Secretary of Energy. It came at a time when energy issues, which only make it into the headlines when something really goes wrong, were suddenly very much in the headlines.

There were rolling power blackouts in California. There were looming shortages of natural gas and other fuels, which were pushing prices upward and putting pressure on an already-strained economy. And OPEC had just announced a one-million barrel-per-day cut in output.

But these were just the most visible problems. The energy challenges facing our country – and the entire world, for that matter – ran much deeper. And the headlines we have seen over the four years since, provide even more evidence that the world’s energy situation is a matter of great concern.

• A massive electricity blackout that knocked the lights out over large areas of the northeast and Midwest – and parts of Canada – in August 2003, which cost our economy billions of dollars over just a few hours.
• Similar power blackouts hitting major cities in Europe and other parts of the world.
• Record-high prices for oil, which escalated costs of gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products – straining family budgets and helping push airlines and other businesses toward bankruptcy.
• Terrorist attacks on petroleum facilities in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other oil-producing countries that were clearly intended to disrupt the energy markets.
• Huge increases in natural gas prices that have had devastating effect on the chemical, pharmaceutical, steel and agribusiness sectors.
• A strike and political unrest in Venezuela, a nation that supplies more than one million barrels a day to the U.S. market, which sparked higher prices and recurring fears of supply disruptions.
• And claims by commentators that world oil reserves are hitting their peak and, someday soon, might start running out.