Project Independence was an initiative announced by U.S. President Richard Nixon on November 7, 1973, in reaction to the OPEC oil embargo and the resulting 1973 oil crisis. Recalling the Manhattan Project, the stated goal of Project Independence was to achieve energy self-sufficiency for the United States by 1980 through a national commitment to energy conservation and development of alternative sources of energy. Nixon declared that American science, technology and industry could free America from dependence on imported oil (energy independence). He called for the construction of 1,000 nuclear power plants by the year 2000.
Some of the important initiatives to emerge from Project Independence included lowering highway speeds to 55 mph (89 km/h), converting oil power plants to coal, completion of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and diverting federal funds from highway construction to mass transit.
- The President's address to the nation outlining steps to deal with the emergency, retrieved 2014-01-08
- James Laxer (1975). Canada's energy crisis. Toronto: James Lorimer & Company. p. 41. ISBN 0-88862-087-X.
- Charles E. Brown (2002). World energy resources. New York: Springer. p. 227. ISBN 3-540-42634-5.
- U.S. Department of Energy. "Energy Timeline: from 1971 to 1980". Retrieved 2012-03-01.
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