State and local policymakers can lead us through Iran’s energy reckoning

Nearly three months into the conflict with Iran, the global energy system is in a state of upheaval that may result in lasting structural change. Many world leaders are now saying fossil fuel supplies are inherently insecure, and as long as we depend on them, we’re exposed to damaging inflation risks.

When we rely on an internationally traded commodity, chaos anywhere on the planet can arrive at our doorstep, whether it’s an ill-placed hurricane or armed conflicts in Ukraine, Venezuela or the Middle East. 

Amid this turmoil and lack of federal leadership, state and local leaders have an opening to protect their constituents from fossil fuel price shocks. 

“Oil dependence is a national security liability because it amplifies the impact of a single regional conflict across the entire global economy,” climate investor Tenzin Seldon recently wrote in Fortune Magazine.

Asia and Europe are already hitting crisis points, with limited supplies spurring fuel rationing, remote work requirements, and other policies to dampen demand. In Australia, the conflict is causing a diesel shortage that threatens the entire continent’s trucking industry. 

While it’s true that U.S. oil and gas production has kept a full-on fuel crisis at bay domestically, rising gas prices are still battering consumers at a time when transportation costs were already one of the four largest bills households face every month. 

“Gasoline prices rose in every state over the last week, with some of the most significant and fastest increases concentrated in the Great Lakes, where states like Michigan,........

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