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Hawaii generates 89 to 91 percent of its energy from oil, the highest share of any U.S. state. Heidi Wild and Fereidun Fesharaki join Roth in December 1993 to assess what that dependence means. Fesharaki argues that global supply security is no longer the concern it was in the 1970s: OPEC cannot repeat that decade's price shocks because customers would reduce demand and seek alternatives, and proven reserves extend well past a century. In inflation-adjusted terms, oil is as cheap as it was in 1975. The conversation turns to environmental costs and alternatives. Wild describes industry investments — over a million dollars in spill-response equipment and $20 million to upgrade emissions controls at BHP's Hawaii refinery — but acknowledges many externalities remain unpriced. Fesharaki insists consumers must know the true cost of any subsidy for cleaner energy, citing a California diesel regulation that had to be suspended because its price impact was hidden from buyers. Both guests agree that doubling or tripling oil prices through taxation would make wind, solar, and geothermal alternatives economically viable, but only if consumers are willing to pay. Conservation, Fesharaki adds, costs roughly as much per barrel as oil itself, hardly a free lunch.
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