Want trumps need in ‘05 energy crisis

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Roger Mezger Plain Dealer Reporter

The lesson not learned, Callahan believes, is that another ’70s-style energy crisis could easily happen in a country that holds only about 2 percent of known global oil reserves but gorges on a quarter of the energy used worldwide.

“Do the math,” she says. “It’s simply not sustainable.”

Before the October 1973 embargo, gasoline sold for about 38 cents a gallon. In today’s money, that’s $1.66.

By June 1974, the average price had soared 45 percent to 55 cents a gallon, equal to $2.17 today.

That is, when you could find it. Lines formed, and stations cut back business hours to conserve supplies.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer