Energy and National Security Remarks at a White House Briefing for Community Leaders.

I know you've had a good briefing from Dr. Brzezinski and also from Stu Eizenstat, but I would like to tell you, from the perspective of the Oval Office and from the perspective of the Commander in Chief of the American Armed Forces, how important this subject is.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan would have been of deep concern to us under any circumstances, and the holding of American hostages would have been of deep concern to us under any circumstances. But the fact that both these actions have taken place in the Persian Gulf region means that we not only have a deep concern but the vital interests of our country, our security is dangerously threatened.

For 3 years now, we have been dealing with the question of energy security: How can we remove the debilitating vulnerability which now afflicts our country because we are so heavily dependent on foreign oil? For 3 years, we have been trying to get a comprehensive energy policy approved by the Congress, established into law, to give our Nation the ability and the inspiration and the cohesion and the understanding to reduce this overdependence and to give our allies, our friends, our trading partners, and those who supply us with oil from overseas a clear concept of where our Nation will go in the future. Other nations look to us for leadership. We have not provided that leadership.

We've got three conference committees that have been working on legislation now for months. The windfall profits tax committee has acted, in the last few days, in a very responsible way; final action by them is imminent. The conferees on the energy security corporation and on the energy mobilization board have not acted responsibly. For week after week after week, they have failed to resolve the relatively minor differences among them, and our Nation waits and waits and waits for them to present back to the Congress their recommendations so that final action can be taken.

The American people are ready for us to move on energy, and the Congress is ready for us to move on energy. The Congress has acted, both the House and the Senate, but the conference committees themselves have not seen fit to act. It's of deep concern to me. And I hope that all of you, as responsible American leaders, will join with me in demanding that the Congress stop this unnecessary delay and provide, for the Congress to finally vote and for me to finally sign, these last remaining pieces of legislation. When that is concluded, as far as the law is concerned, our country will have the basis for a viable, adequate, long-range, understandable energy policy. I say that not in a spirit of condemnation or criticism of individual Members of Congress, but to express in the most sincere way to you the deep sense of concern that I feel.

The American people are also waiting for some clear expression of guidance from the Government on how they can conserve additional quantities of energy. We are now seeking from the Congress the allocation of enough funds to run a nationwide media campaign during prime time—when people watch the television, listen to the radio, read the newspapers-on how they can individually cooperate, on a continuing basis, to conserve energy. We've made some progress there, and public service media are helping. But this needs to be supplemented because it is so crucial to us.

In 1968 this country was exporting energy—net exporting of energy. As you know, we now are heavily dependent on imported energy. By the time I came in office in 1977, about half the total oil that we used came from overseas, and the price had been escalating rapidly. We have actually cut down the quantity of oil we import since I've been in office, because of the first effects of energy legislation passed a little more than a year ago and because of an aroused consciousness of Americans about the need for saving energy and also because we have marshaled support from other nations to join in with us and derive mutual benefit from that support. Where we go from here is of crucial importance to everyone in this room and to our country.

We have been blessed with enormous energy reserves. The figures that I have indicate that the total OPEC nations, all combined, have about 6 percent of the world's energy supplies; we have, ourselves, 24 percent. Ours are highly diverse in nature, with coal, shale, oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, and so forth. But what we need to do is to become more energy self-sufficient. We don't anticipate being completely independent of a need for imported oil, but we want to reduce that dependence to such a degree that in an emergency, if we have to, we could do without oil from a certain part of the world—troubled world, unstable world-and not have a crippling, adverse effect on our country.

There are only two things that we can do to accomplish this goal. One is to produce more American energy, and the other is to conserve the energy that we have or that we buy.

If our plan is put into effect by the Congress, then an anticipated 14 million barrels of oil to be imported per day by 1990 will have been reduced down to 4 or 5 million barrels per day. And in the process we will have greatly increased our own ability to use replenishable supplies of energy, derived directly or indirectly from the Sun; improved the use of coal, which we have in adequate supply; and had that coal converted to use where the quality of 'our environment will not be damaged.

I don't think there is much prospect that we would increase the rate of production of oil. Most of our American oil wells, as you know, have been in use for a long time. We are now drilling very deep wells. We are reopening wells that had formerly been abandoned, which were not economically feasible; but with a higher price, they can produce a few barrels of oil per day.

We've had some increased exploration since the new energy legislation has been in effect. I think last month we had more oil-drilling rigs in use than any time in the last 20 or 21 years. And of course, Alaska has helped a great deal, with roughly 2 million barrels per day coming into our country.

This is an extremely complicated subject, perhaps the most complicated and difficult, in its totality, that the Congress has ever had to address. And our Nation has changed, painfully, from one which had squandered cheap oil to one that is now confronting rapidly increasing prices of energy under all circumstances.

And our Congress has had to change, painfully, from one which was responsive to an acutely interested energy lobby to one which has now got to balance an acutely interested energy lobby with an acutely interested consumer lobby. Now they are fairly equally balanced. But in the past it was not necessary for American consumers to be particularly interested in how the oil situation was handled, because back a few years ago, oil was a dollar and a half a barrel, and now, as you know, it's extremely high priced—30 to 40 dollars a barrel.

The purpose of this meeting is to equate accurately energy security with our Nation's military security; there's no way to separate the two. And I know that Dr. Brzezinski has given you an overall strategic assessment, and Stu Eizenstat has given you an analysis of the present circumstances with legislation.

I would be glad to answer just a couple of questions. I don't want to belabor it too long.