For the first time in a decade, events have converged to make possible substantive progress on a national energy policy. But the question remains as to whether or not real progress will be made.

The energy crisis of the 1970s should have been a wake-up call. I argued then and throughout the 1980s and 1990s that it was time to get moving to address our long-term energy problems. Each episode of short supply and higher prices spurred renewed talk about our Nation's lack of an energy policy. But, each time, supplies stabilized, prices dropped, and nothing materialized from all that talk. Will we again let that opportunity slip away? ...

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The United States must have a comprehensive energy policy that promotes energy conservation and efficiency and the greater use of domestic energy resources, while it ensures the development and deployment of advanced energy technologies and also improves our energy infrastructure. That is a pretty tall order. But all of those components are necessary if we are to reduce our Nation's dependence on foreign energy resources.

A number of challenges lie ahead. Our dependence on foreign oil increases every day. Because our domestic production peaked in the early 1970s and our consumption has not diminished since the early 1980s, we grow ever more dependent. This gap is due, in large part, to our dependence on oil for our rapidly expanding transportation sector.

On a positive note, the U.S. is less dependent on foreign oil than many other industrialized nations. However, it is also true that we are reliant on foreign producers for more than 50 percent of our oil supply today compared to less than 40 percent in the mid-1970s. Fortunately, we rely on a more diverse choice of foreign nations, and we are less dependent on Middle Eastern nations, for that growing share of our petroleum imports than twenty-five years ago. ...

Further, we must understand that there are actually two major energy systems functioning in the U.S. with comparatively little influence on each other. Our transportation system is run almost entirely on oil-based resources. The second system provides power to warm our homes, light our businesses, light our Senate Chamber, run our computers, and cook our meals. It is supplied largely by domestic industries and resources that are in the midst of an historic and difficult transition.

The limited overlap between these two energy systems can be simply illustrated. The electric power industry gets 2 percent of its energy from oil -- the rest comes from coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydroelectric, as well as other renewable sources. Conversely, 97 percent of the energy use in our transportation sector comes from what? Oil. We must intelligently address the needs of these two energy systems simultaneously in order to provide a comprehensive solution to our energy needs. ...

We must seize this opportunity to learn from past experiences. President Carter spoke to the nation in 1977 about the energy crisis of that era. He said that:

"Our decisions about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this nation. This difficult effort will be the 'moral equivalent of war,' except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy."