History: United States Of America, 1970-1979

The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned, while most major airports are publicly owned. The four largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are American; Southwest Airlines is number one. Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel, within or between cities. Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips, compared to 38.8% in Europe. Bicycle usage is minimal, well below European levels.
Energy
The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8 tons of oil equivalent per year, compared to Germany's 4.2 tons and Canada's 8.3 tons. In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear power and renewable energy sources. The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum. For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part due to public perception in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed.