[deport]

....I recall a post here around a month or so ago where the Canadians were claiming to have gotten oil-shale extraction costs down to the $12 a barrel range, whereas it had been around $35+ a barrel.....

Don't know about the $12 bbl price but here are a couple articles on oil shale... not the easiest process going and still expensive.

• Shell Exploration Co. project in Colorado

• SHALE OIL--THE ELUSIVE ENERGY

[backhoe]

Appreciate the links- saved to disc!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Exxon tried oil shale near Rifle, Colorado in the early 1970's. I think they mined and crushed the stuff into two to four inch topsize, then irradiated the shale to get the oil to come out. Trouble was, the four inch chunks swelled up to six inches, so if the process had been followed (it took $40 crude to payout) the hillsides and mountains would become large spoil piles several hundred feet taller than when the project began.
Take that concept to your weekly Greenpeace meeting and whattaya get ?