1977: President Jimmy Carter signs the Department of Energy Organization Act, creating the U.S. Department of Energy.

Prior to 1973, the United States had no coherent energy policy. Instead, a number of smaller agencies, often working independently of one another, handled different aspects of the nation’s energy needs. In the early years of the Atomic Age, for example, the military assumed responsibility for all nuclear-related issues.

The 1973 energy crisis changed everything. It was triggered when Arab member nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an oil embargo against all Western countries supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo resulted in an immediate jump in oil prices (to $12 a barrel, the equivalent of $61 today) widespread gasoline rationing and the imposition of a 55 mph maximum speed limit. And it exposed America’s energy dependencies and weaknesses.

The Nixon administration responded with Project Independence and the creation of the Federal Energy Office, the former intended to give the United States total energy independence by 1980 and the latter to manage a national energy policy. The energy program grew incrementally under the Nixon and Ford administrations, but remained diffuse.

Jimmy Carter had acquired a technical background in nuclear propulsion as an engineering officer in the Navy. When he took office in 1977, he proposed creating a Cabinet-level überagency that would consolidate everything energy-related — research, exploration, conservation, production and disposal — under its authority. The Energy Department would also be responsible for setting the national energy agenda and assuring nuclear safety.

Congress passed the act, and Carter signed it Aug. 4. The Department of Energy began operating Oct. 1, 1977.

The energy secretary oversees a department with a $29.5 billion budget request for Fiscal Year 2012 and about 15,000 employees. Among the many units DOE funds and operates are more than 30 national laboratories. And it’s the Energy Department, not the Pentagon, that oversees the development, testing, integrity and safety of the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Source: Various

Photo: President Jimmy Carter (Courtesy Library of Congress)

This article first appeared on Wired.com Aug. 4, 2008.