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rope's oil and between 90% and 95%
of Japan's oil.
The U. S. House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Middle East
summed up the seriousness of this
si tuation in its report: "Never be–
fore in the history of mankind have
so many wealtby, industrialized,
militarily powerful and large states
been at the potential merey ofsmall,
independent and potentially un–
stable states which will provide, for
the foreseeable fut ure, the fuel of
advanced societies."
Threat to Europe's Security?
As big a securi ty risk as this de–
pendence on the Middle East repre–
sents, European leaders find
themselves without a jointly con–
structed energy policy. In fact,
Western Europe finds that its de–
pendency on oil as an energy source
has ri sen from 33% of its total en–
ergy requirements in 1960 to over
64% at present.
Commissioner Henri Simonet, the
European Economic Community of–
ficial responsible for energy, found
himself straddled with this burden
after taking office in January 1973.
He has already observed that "this
situation of dependence cannot fail
to grow in the future, and it is an–
ticipated that Europe will be using
oil to provide for 68% of its energy
requirements by 1985."
Lack of European Unity
Despite reams of paperwork and
multitudinous good intentions,
Western Eur o p e has not ye t
achieved a common energy policy.
The ministers responsible for energy
policy in the EEC met in Brussels
last May 22 to discuss a common
energy policy - for the first time
since November 1969.
For Europe, the urgency of keep–
ing itself supplied with energy has
been swallowed by myriad other
major issues, from monetary union
and regional policy to the price of
butter.
Not only does the EEC not have a
common energy program, but tbe
member nations themselves are seri-
PLAIN TRUTH October 1973
ously lacking coherent interna!
energy policies. One German news–
paper,
Die Zeit,
warned of West
Germany's situation: "It wou ld be
catastrophic if our politicians let the
crisis in coa! mining distract their
attentioo away from the greater evil
that threatens us all: a worldwide
shortage of fuel and power. l f this
comes in the next few years (as many
experts fear), the Federal Republic
will be practically unprepared."
European nations are presently
working separately to attain secure
supplies of energy sources. Wilhelm
Haferkamp, former EEC commis–
sioner for energy affairs, urged a
common policy despite the effects
on national sovereignty. He warned,
"We cannot wait until the lights in
Europe literally go out."
The real decision-making power,
however, now rests with individual
European governments that balk at
any potential threat to their national
sovereignty. The very real threat of
oil shortage has not yet impressed
itself upon Europe; the will to
coordinate harmoniously and give
authority toa central European gov–
ernment simply does not yet exist.
The basic reason for this is that
the governments and peoples of the
EEC are not yet willing to traosfer
the fundamental powers of decision–
making to common European in–
st itutions.
To transfer such power to a Euro–
pean institution would be a step into
the shadows of the unknown, which
Europeans are not yet prepared to
take. Yet not to unify appears to
portend a future plunge into literal
darkness. The European Parliament
warned that unless the member na–
tions of the EEC get together soon
on a joint energy policy, Europe
would face a crisis by 1980 in which
the lights would "go out over Eu–
rope."
Jt's becoming more and more ob–
vious that only a major shock will
change things profoundly. Says one
European official: "We will need a
very serious crisis to bring people to
recognize the dangers ahead and
force governments to start work se–
riously on joint projects."
Other Possible Sources
Does nuclear energy, so often re–
ferred to as the answer to all energy
needs, represent independence for
Europe? Commissioner Simonet
noted that "at present,
Europe is sti/1
total/y dependent on the U.S.A.
for
the supplies of enriched uranium
needed for its nuclear reactors." He
adds: " ... the uncertainty which
still hangs over the choice of tech–
niques [for enriching uranium in
Europe] is sufficient proof of the fact
the nuclear field is bardly out of the
experimental field."
EEC sources note that not until
1985 is nuclear power expected to
contribute even 10% to 20% of
Western Europe's energy needs.
Only France expects to have a
higher figure in this category.
Important North Sea oil discov–
eries have been touted as potentially
freeing Europe from dependence on
the Middle East. But experts now
say tbat even if the North Sea pro–
duces 3 mill.ion barreis per day by
1985, it will account for only about
one tenth of the total West Euro–
pean consumption.
Searching for alternate solutions,
experts have eyed Venezuela's mil–
lion million (one trillion in U. S. ter–
minology) barreis of heavy oil, and
also the probable 300,000 million
barreis of recoverable oil in the Ath–
abascan tar sands o f northeastern
Alberta, Canada. The United States
and its large amounts of shale and
coal bave also been considered, as
tbey could be converted into almost
unlimited quantities of hydro–
carbons.
Huge Financia! Burden
All of these resources exist. How–
ever - and this is crucial to the
entire worldwide situation - the
problem is to turn these trapped re–
sources into usable oi l. Energy ex–
pert James Akins clarifies the scope
of the problem: "Tbe shale, the
beavy Venezuelan oil, and the tar
sands all require capital investment
on the scale of
5
to 7 billion U. S.
dollars for each million barreis per
day of capacity. Above all, Che lead
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