Although the crisis prompted by the sharp increase in OPEC oil prices in the 1970s has passed, energy has continued to be a national concern in the 1980s. The crisis dramatized the hazards of dependency on foreign oil, but the country at present lacks a well-thought-out energy policy, and new problems loom in the near future. When the high price of oil was followed by an oil glut, the US oil industry suffered economic reverses and has restricted its search for new petroleum reserves. As a result, the nation is once again becoming dependent on imported oil. Moreover, there are limits to the amount of oil still obtainable in the US, making alternative sources of energy a prime consideration. Nuclear power, once forecast as an energy source that would not only compete with oil but eventually replace it, has proved disillusioning. The soaring costs of nuclear plant construction and decommissioning, the question of the safety of the nuclear plants -- especially following the incident at Three Mile Island, and the still unresolved problem of nuclear waste have shaken public confidence in the industry. No nuclear plants have begun construction in more than ten years, and no new plants are presently envisioned. - Preface.

Discusses the present and future status of energy sources in America, focusing on natural gas, oil, solar power, and nuclear energy.