After World War II, energy consumption in the United States skyrocketed. The main causes of the increase in energy spending were infrastructure projects, including the Eisenhower Interstate System, and the side effects of veterans returning home, including the demand for new jobs (Tverberg). In mid-1973, before the embargo, the United States had few domestic reserves and had to import about 27 percent of the crude oil it needed each year. In other words, the United States was dependent on foreign oil imports from countries over which it had little control and with which it had poor relations (OPEC states). The energy crisis, which consisted of an oil embargo and price increases, highlighted America's dependence on foreign oil and caused rapid, widespread panic across the nation in 1973 and again in 1979. Fear resulting from the energy crisis was irrational . , the United States had methods of producing energy domestically, but the panic that followed in the 1970s projected the world into total dependence on foreign oil, giving immense power to members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and to other oil exporting countries. -producing countries. To regain oil independence, the United States passed energy saving legislation. Legislation resulting from the energy crisis and consumer demand for fuel-efficient automobiles gave American automakers the impetus they needed to increase fuel economy. Between 1958 and 1969, pro-Arab governments were installed in the oil-producing states of the Middle East, namely Iraq, Algeria and Libya. At the same time, the "Seven Sisters," seven, predominantly American, oil-producing corporations that controlled much of the international oil trade in the 1970s and beyond." The Competitive State of the U.S. Automobile Industry: A Study of the Influences of technology in determining international industrial competitive advantage. Washington, DC: National Academy, 133-49. Tverberg, Gail. World Energy Consumption Since 1820. Our Finite World. Web. 11 June 2014. .United States. U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Effects of the CAFE Incentive Policy on the Alternative Motor Fuels Act. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, March 2002. Web. 09 June 2014. .Wilbur, W Allan. OPEC Oil Price Increase. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1980. Print.