Assigning blame can’t fix fuel crisis

The fuel crises of 1973 and 1979 woke up consumers, car manufacturers and elected officials. Consumers explored car pooling, bicycles and public transportation. Car manufacturers touted their great-gas-mileage cars. The speed limit was lowered, resulting in fuel efficiency and fewer highway deaths.

And the U.S. became better educated about the dangers of foreign oil dependence, especially dependence on oil from the chaotic Middle East.

And alternative fuel sources were researched. Remember the hype around ethanol? Then, the 1980s happened. The Middle East calmed down a bit; Saudi Arabia, which possesses 25 percent of the world’s oil reserves, became a tight United States ally. The lines at the gas pumps grew short again.

Many consumers, car manufacturers and elected officials then came down with fuel-crisis amnesia. Cars grew bigger and bigger and bigger until, by the beginning of the 21st century, grown men and women were driving modified tanks down the streets. What a hummer.

A fuel crisis is upon us once more. Blame chaos in the Middle East. Blame Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Blame the increasing hunger for fuel all over the globe. A Washington Post story Monday provided a global view of the crisis, from the $100 it takes to fill up a minivan in Western Europe to the $5-a-gallon gas price charged in Namibia, where $5,000 is the average annual income.

The fuel crisis, however, opens up another opportunity for governments and consumers to change again. Already, car manufacturers are touting fuel mileage as a selling point. People are garaging their gas hogs in favor of more economical cars. Hybrids are “hot” cars now, and not just for the environmentally inclined.

And finally, some people seem to be awakening to the fact that the United States cannot continue to depend on foreign oil. The crisis will provide a much-needed impetus for research into alternative fuel sources.

Close to home, some are pinning hopes on biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil or other oil from animal fats. Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, hopes to see a biodiesel fuel refinery in Eastern Washington, fed by oil-seed crops grown in the Inland Northwest.

Experimentation with alternative fuel sources, such as biodiesel, is a worthy focus at the local, state and federal level, but with this caveat: There is no next, big thing like oil. If there were, it would have been discovered by now. Oil replacements will come from a variety of sources. And most likely, these alternatives will be expensive to produce and consume.

Weaning the United States of an unhealthy oil dependence will require research diligence, conservation and acceptance that the current fuel crisis might fade away, just as the crises in 1973 and 1979 did, but it will never stay away for good.