Posted on 05/11/2012 4:09:24 PM PDT by jazusamo
Video at link
Rock Springs, Wyo. (BLM Photo)
(CNSNews.com) - The Green River Formation, a largely vacant area of mostly federal land that covers the territory where Colorado, Utah and Wyoming come together, contains about as much recoverable oil as all the rest the world’s proven reserves combined, an auditor from the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Thursday.
The GAO testimony stressed that the federal government was in “a unique position to influence the development of oil shale” because the Green River deposits were mostly beneath federal land.
It also noted that developing the oil would pose “socioeconomic challenges,” which included bringing “a sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional stress on local infrastructure” and “making planning for growth difficult for local governments.”
“The Green River Formation--an assemblage of over 1,000 feet of sedimentary rocks that lie beneath parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming--contains the world's largest deposits of oil shale,”Anu K. Mittal, the GAO’s director of natural resources and environment said in written testimony submitted to the House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
“USGS estimates that the Green River Formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil, and about half of this may be recoverable, depending on available technology and economic conditions,” Mittal testified.
“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered,” Mittal told the subcommittee. “At the midpoint of this estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world's proven oil reserves.”
In her oral statement before the subcommittee, Mittal said that developing the shale oil would create wealth and jobs for the country, but also challenges for government.
“Being able to tap this vast amount of oil locked within this formation will go a long way to help to meet our future demands for oil. The U.S. Geological Survey, as you noted, estimates that the formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil of which half may be recoverable,” she said.
“As you can imagine having the technology to develop this vast energy resource will lead to a number of important socioeconomic benefits including the creation of jobs, increases in wealth and increases in tax and royalty payments for federal and state governments,” she said.
“While large-scale oil-shale development offers socioeconomic opportunities it also poses certain socioeconomic challenges that also should not be overlooked,” she testified. “Oil shale development like other extractive industries can bring a sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional stressed on local infrastructure. Development from expansion of extractive industries has historically followed a boom-and-bust cycle making planning for growth difficult for local governments.”
In her written testimony , Mittal noted that three-fourths of the Green River shale oil is under federal land.
“The federal government is in a unique position to influence the development of oil shale because nearly three-quarters of the oil shale within the Green River Formation lies beneath federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior’s (Interior) Bureau of Land Management (BLM),” she testified.
Steam injection is typically used to recover heavy oil from sandstone formations and sometimes even this requires mining such as is currently being done in the Canadian tar sands. This is the oil in question to be brought in by the Keystone Pipeline that has the environmentist panties in a wad.
BTW the Keystone pipeline would come nowhere near the Green River Formation, not that it would make any difference, it would however come close to the Balken Shale in North Dakota and Montana that is currently in a horizonal drilling boom and is suffering from a lack of pipeline access that is increasing their transportation costs as much as $30 a barrel.
And the Keystone XL will, in fact, have a terminal in Baker, MT to serve the Bakken field. I've heard estimates that 300K bbl/day will enter the Keystone system at Baker.
-—see post #15-—
“GAO: Recoverable Oil in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming ‘About Equal to Entire World’s Proven Reserves.”
Aka Pimp-my-Bonds
If you're going to rant at Diogenesis you'll have to ping him to your rants. It's also considered a courtesy when you mention someone in your posts. I have to wonder why you don't ping Mr. Robinson to your temper tantrums too since he feels the same way.
No votes for gun-grabbing baby killers.
See what you just did? (or didn't do)
For obvious reasons.
I would have pinged him anyway TigersEye. What the poster did was uncalled for. We're supposed to be operating under a truce now. A truce is a two-way street.
If I had wanted to try and cause him trouble I would have done that.
That is just an awesome family picture. What else is there to say?
YOU are Team Romney.
Where is YOUR apology?
And regarding THIS thread,
where is any comment by your Master-in-Hiding on this?
FLASHBACK:
The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.
Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008
The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."
"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"
"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"
"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"
"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"
"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"
Cool pic!
With what you’re advocating, we’d have had no Revolution. You’d just tell us to pucker up and kiss the King’s backside.
No Willard. No sale.
There is also this picture that Hughes Tool Company has had in several of their publications and made into a belt buckle about 1980. Grandfather is the Blackstock referred to on back of the buckle and seated in the picture. There is much more to the story which has been passed down through the family involving Howard Hughes Sr.
I understand.
Didn’t Billy Bob lock up one of the largest deposits of ultra-premium clean coal on the planet when he was in office?
Think it was in Utah.
Think it was in Utah.
Yes, Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.
His sugar daddy, the Indonesian Mochtar Riady, was real pleased with ol' Billy Jeff.
Of course the enviro-nazis were screaming so it was easy for Clintoon and the RATS to put it off to the precious environment. That is super clean coal and should be being mined, it could keep a lot of coal fired plants running for a long time.
Utah wilderness order by Clinton halts plan for mining clean coal
He'd have sold the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate bridge and an original copy of the Constitution if anybody (Riady, China, Russia, Soros) had made an offer.
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