Commentary: The fuel shortages of the '70s were crazy. Will we be running on empty again?

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Surely you haven’t forgotten those mad COVID weeks of scrambling for the most elementary necessities: the masks, the baby formula, the toilet paper?Maybe we should start to think of that as … practice.Twice in the last 50 years, crises in the Mideast, one of them centered in Iran, have turned Americans into frantic hunter-gatherers for another necessity: fuel for their gas tanks.It’s true even now, even with so many electric cars later, that gasoline is still the drink of choice for millions of vehicles.Very briefly, the 1973-74 oil embargo began after the “Yom Kippur” Arab-Israeli war.

Arab oil-producing countries cut production and exports to the U.S.and other nations supporting Israel.Then, in 1979, the Iranian revolution stomped on the brakes of that country’s oil production, and the U.S.

again went through oil withdrawal.Diving supplies, stratospheric prices, and rules and regs for who could buy how much gas and when sent Americans into panicky buying habits.These twinned crises put the U.S.

on its slow, foot-dragging path toward energy independence.We’ve turned to electric and hybrid vehicles and the alternative wind and solar energy projects that the Trump administration is kicking to the curb today.Los Angeles is a complex place.

Luckily, there's someone who can provide context, history and culture.By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver.

You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.Like COVID, unless you were there, it’s hard to believe the things that went on, but if you’re skeptical about what old grandsire tells you about the Great Gas Wars of the 1970s, believe him.

Here’s why:In 1974 — th...