“We knew about the Oil Shale...how to get it is the issue....”
Exactly this. At the present time, getting at the oil would mean strip mining most of the western half of Wyoming, as well as large sections of Colorado and Utah. I don’t think the public at large will go for that, let alone the populations of those states, no matter how many jobs it brings. And processing the shale to produce oil would take tremendous amounts of water in the already arid west. We make fun of the enviros on FR, but they have a point when it comes to Shale.
Technology will eventually exist that allows us to get to this oil. It doesn’t yet.
Technology will eventually exist that allows us to get to this oil. It doesn’t yet.
Apparently, that technology already exists.
As I recall, the current technology involves drilling 2,000 ft into the strata, heating the shale and "sweating" the kerogen out of it, then pumping the kerogen out. No need to "strip mine" the western half of Wyoming.
Which is, by the way, a pretty bleak area (speaking as one who once spent a summer in Wamsutter).
At the present time, getting at the oil would mean strip mining most of the western half of Wyoming, as well as large sections of Colorado and Utah.
...............
No strip mining needed. Oil bearing rock is first melted underground to make it liquid and then piped to the surface.The process of doing this is called insitu. Its also relatively cheap.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale
In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell announced that its in-situ process could become competitive for oil prices over $30 per barrel ($190/m3).[56] A 2004 report by the United States Department of Energy stated that both the Shell technology and technology used in the Stuart Oil Shale Project could be competitive at prices above $25 per barrel, and that the Viru Keemia Grupp expected full-scale production to be economical at prices above $18 per barrel ($130/m3).[46][57]
getting at the oil would mean strip mining most of the western half of Wyoming, as well as large sections of Colorado and Utah
You’re going to have to present some facts as to why this shale would have to be strip mined. You mine sands not shale. There have been over 3,000 wells drilled in the basin and no mining that I am aware of.
There are real concerns in dealing with the water table and other issues in the extraction process, but technology will eventually overcome these concerns.
I stand corrected on the surface mining portion of my post. I did some research on it and found that it is one of the methods of extraction for shale as well as sand formations.
I did find that in the case of Green River Basin drilling and injecting heat seems to be the method of extraction.
Welcome to the Mahogany Research Project
http://www.shell.us/home/content/usa/aboutshell/projects_locations/mahogany/
For decades, energy companies have attempted to unlock the large, domestic oil shale resources of northwestern Colorado’s Piceance (pronounced “Pee-ance”) Basin. For more than a quarter of a century, Shell has conducted laboratory and field research on its promising, In situ (in-ground) Conversion Process to recover oil and gas.