KTLA News: "Mayor Tom Bradley holds press conference on energy conservation" (1974)

[Mayor Tom Bradley] Well, I think his report will clearly show that we are, considerably improved over where we were in December of last year. It does not, by any means, suggest that we are completely out of the woods. We are in pretty good shape for the rest of 1974. But we must understand that our, demands for energy have been increasing by about six percent each year. And unless some drastic steps are taken. Unless we continue our conservation efforts. We could run into the same kind of problem, at the end of this year as we faced at the end of 1973. [No audio] [Bradley coughs] Anybody hearing anything because I don't, [Unidentified] Yeah. [No audio] In December of last year, we were faced with a, drastic situation of the possibility of rolling blackouts in February of this year because of a shortage of oil. Fortunately through the work of an ad hoc committee of citizens of this community, and with a quick action of the City Council, we got an ordinance, that would require reduction of consumption. There was a great response by the people of this community. And we've been able to get the, the reduction of the use of electricity, up to a level of about seventeen percent. I want to commend the citizens of Los Angeles for their, quick response. Since that time, we have, been able to secure the services of Harold Williams. Who was on loan to the city from UCLA. And he has served as our energy coordinator. He has been asked by the City  Council to, [camera noise] We will be able to, make a better decision, about the course of action that will be required in the coming months here in Los Angeles. No, I do not. And I think that, ah, Harold Williams will give you a full explanation of why he is suggesting, that we, retain the penalty phase of the ordinance. I think it makes sense. And, ah, in a period of time, we'll have a better idea of, ah, what we should do about the penalties segments of that ordinance.  But for the moment I, I do not believe that it should be removed. [Reporter unintelligible] [Harold Williams] I'll take this seat. [Bradley] That one's yours. [Williams] Easier for me to move over than move all the microphones. [Williams] And I want to touch in a moment on another thing. But at this point, what it leads to from our standpoint, my standpoint, [camera noise] and the mandatory, curtailment requirements and the penalty requirements of the present ordinance Now, we'll, now, we'll talk in a minute about some changes in the ordinance because if it's, perhaps overly complex and not quite equitable under some circumstances. Ahh. You can say all right what happens if the Arab embargo is lifted on Sunday. Ahh, And, I, I've got to say to you, we don't know what happens if the Arab embargo is lifted on Sunday. We've got to start off, and we've got to assume at this point, I think with very good reason, that nothing happens when the Arab embargo is lifted on Sunday. And let me tell you why. First of all, apparently the, the countries involved can't even agree on where and when to meet. So the question is, will they be able to agree to lift it. If they agree to lift it, What does this mean about available oil supply? Remember, ah, there was, there was some curtailment of, of oil supply, even before the embargo. Because you can go back and Libya and Kuwait, even back two or three years ago, had cut back their production because they felt it was uneconomic for them to continue to produce at the rate they were producing. Saudi Arabia picked up that slack at that time. But, now the countries are deriving what three and four times as much per barrel of oil than they got before the embargo. That there's, ah, I think a very reasonable question of how much, how many dollars, or German francs or yen to that, can these, can these countries utilize. Or do they want. And will they produce the amount of oil that they did pre embargo. I think we cannot assume, particularly when the consequences of making the wrong judgment are what they are. We  cannot assume. that they, that they will return to pre embargo volume, amount of oil. Ah, further, there are demands growing in all parts of the world. There are shortages in all parts of the world. And even, and assuming the supply increases from what it was, is gonna be a lot of competition for that supply of oil. How fast will we be able to get, what we need. Good question. Will we be willing to reinstate contracts, or, or to, [camera noise] Ahh, We have situation where, people don't fully understand, what the, [camera noise] In the foreseeable future, I hope so and I expect so, but we're not there yet. And we don't know when we'll be there. [Reporter] We're running out of time to. [Williams] No,