Oil shale could theoretically replace all U.S. oil usage at present rates for something like 200 years. With technology - and approaches - of the Synfuels Corp era, recovery from good grades would have been around 35%, considerably less than that accounting for losses in pillars and barriers. Worse, most of the oil, in low grade oil shale, would have been rendered inaccessible by highgrading of the better material.

At that time, all proposed processing approaches would have cracked the calcium carbonate of the Western Shales, releasing much carbon dioxide beyond that involved in process losses. The major advance since that period is that the Shell in situ scheme has demonstrated that good oil can be produced at temperatures which would not destroy the calcite. That datum needs time to apply more widely, but the older technologies were at the point where 500K bbl/day was feasible within a year or so of when Ronald Reagan shut everything down. That noted, because of infrastructure, oil refinery changes, environmental, water and other problems, the consensus view of insiders was that it would take about 20 years to build an industry capable of replacing all imported oil.

That\’s still probably true today, but we could probably cut the time to energy independence to ten years or so if: we accept some environmental damage until we can improve technology; we reduce imports by improving efficiency; we reduce imports by initiatives like the Pickens Plan; and, we apply the technology we developed 20 years ago in an integrated national effort rather than by piecemeal private enterprise.

Orrin Hatch\’s reply regarding jobs was grossly misleading, because he only considered jobs directly related to oil shale. if the money presently leaving the nation to buy oil instead circulated within it, the number of jobs THAT would create would far exceed the oil industry ones.

Pat Jack: There\’s an embarrassing amount of methane in oil shale. A BuMines shaft had it coming in at about 300 psi. A welder was puzzled because his flame got larger as he increased the oxygen. Didn\’t blow himself up because the methane was above the exp0losive limit. Later, \”to increase mining production\”, they use non-permissible explosive. That did light off the gas, and they had to flood the shaft to put out the fire.

Scott: One reason is industy\’s habit of obtaining posession then sitting on it while the value increases and others solve the problems. Another is need to protect the public from the careless or greedy.

A. Ortiz: Orrin Hatch knew more about oil shale issues 20 years back than most do today. Still, it was a good link to post. Amongst issues missing from the Wikipedia article is the fire hazard. I noted BuMines experience above. In a particularly witless industry episode, Occidental used an energetic explosive in apparently happy ignorance of the fact that it did its work largely by producing hydrogen. They left an ignition source active - fireballs out of their shafts and adits - nearly lost their mine to the resulting fire. (not the only time) In an oil shale mine, the environment burns… I passed by the waste pile of the Kvarntorp oil shale mine in Swedenmore than a decade since production ceased. It was still burning and stank more than a mile away… An oil shale industry in Colorado and Utah is too dangerous to trust to a mob. It needs a national control like that for atomic energy.

….Down the other road is the continued use of oil with all of the problems we know so well, and a push for nuclear energy. Besides the obvious dangers is the continuation of the pitfalls of centralized energy.

….I strongly favor the Pickens Plan because it leaves the door open for the development of truly decentralized energy technologies.

….Natural gas can be in place as soon as the filling stations for the trucks are ready. If new trucks ran of natural gas at $1.40 a gallon all the trucking companies would be scrambling to refit there rigs just to stay competitive. This one thing would probably save our economy.

….By replacing the natural gas being used by the truckers with wind we would not only increase the amount of energy we produced but we would revitalize the economy of our country.

….The volt being made by GM will run for 40 miles on an overnight charge before having to burn a drop of gas. This is all most people need to get to work but to use something like this we need to redo the energy grid or we would all just brown out. Rebuilding the grid creates more jobs.

….With the new grid the door is wide open for solar power. If solar cells are ever really produced on a large scale, the price per watt will drop dramatically. We will soon be able to produce enough power to have the excess necessary for localized hydrogen production.

….With power freedom water and knowledge we can reach a new level of prosperity.

….We can save the earths oil supplies and all the other things it is good for our decedents.

….How the @#$#@ do you put paragraphs in these things

Down the other road is the continued use of oil with all of the problems we know so well, and a push for nuclear energy. Besides the obvious dangers is the continuation of the pitfalls of centralized energy.

I strongly favor the Pickens Plan because it leaves the door open for the development of truly decentralized energy technologies.

Natural gas can be in place as soon as the filling stations for the trucks are ready. If new trucks ran of natural gas at $1.40 a gallon all the trucking companies would be scrambling to refit there rigs just to stay competitive. This one thing would probably save our economy.

By replacing the natural gas being used by the truckers with wind we would not only increase the amount of energy we produced but we would revitalize the economy of our country.

The volt being made by GM will run for 40 miles on an overnight charge before having to burn a drop of gas. This is all most people need to get to work but to use something like this we need to redo the energy grid or we would all just brown out. Rebuilding the grid creates more jobs.

With the new grid the door is wide open for solar power. If solar cells are ever really produced on a large scale, the price per watt will drop dramatically. We will soon be able to produce enough power to have the excess necessary for localized hydrogen production.

With power freedom water and knowledge we can reach a new level of prosperity.

We can save the earths oil supplies and all the other things it is good for our decedents.

I agree with Boone that we have to approach our energy problem from every angle. But that approach has to be balanced and take all factors into account.

And A. Ortiz has a great point…we are still talking oil here with all of the global climate change the burning of it brings.

But of course I could be totally wrong. Perhaps Orin Hatch has a plan and Boone isn\’t listening. I mean, getting oil from shale would really solve all our problems. Yeah, to heck with the Wind Farms, we\’ll just listen to Orin, and his state can solve all our problems with their brazilian oil from Shale technology. Heck, why listen to Orin, looks like Brazil should be running the show.

Hey, who is that guy Boone Pickens anyway, isn\’t he the nut that the President of iran was listening to 20 years ago. I hear the President of iran is converting his transportation industry to natural gas and will sell the United States of America iran\’s oil for $300 bucks a barell. Boone, why\’d you have to open your big MOUTH!

Now we\’re gonna have to use natural gas in our cars like the President of iran!

I\’m sure am glad we can get that oil from the shale.

Orin\’s a smart old boy.

Pat Jack
Pickens Plan Ambassador

Combined with Wind power, and solar power, using CNG for urban areas, and E-85 for longer stretches, I believe we can, and certainly MUST achieve total energy independance even quicker than Mr. Pickens\’ plan calls for.