[Bernard Marx]

That oil shale deposit is very old news. In fact Jimmy Carter sponsored a big recovery plant there back in the 1970s but the project fizzled for technological reasons. You're right: how to get it is the issue. Worse, 70% of the deposit is on federally-owned land and you can bet it will not be available for oil development.

Oil shale isn't oil sand, as in Canada, or the type of oil that can be recovered by fracking. It requires a heating process called retorting that takes several years for oil in a designated spot to be released from the rock in a form that can be recovered. It's electricity-intensive and the Greenies will have a field day opposing it. Unless we elect an administration that will kill off the EPA or at least get rid of the zealots that run it, shale oil is just a dream.

[Sea Parrot]

“That oil shale deposit is very old news. In fact Jimmy Carter sponsored a big recovery plant there back in the 1970s but the project fizzled for technological reasons.”

It did not fail for that reason, it was strictly economics. The Parachute CO project was going full blast ahead when oil was around $40.00 a bbl. IMO the project scared the living hell out of OPEC, the price of oil dropped to around $9.00 bbl. Blam and damn, oil shale was no longer profitably viable, end of story.

[thackney]

a big recovery plant there back in the 1970s but the project fizzled for technological reasons

Not technological reasons, 100% due to economics. At that time, cheaper oil was available to meet demand, once the OPEC embargo had ended.