Morning Bell: Free Our Energy
Nicolas Loris /
Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is once again taking steps towards increasing our energy dependence. Just a few weeks after the Obama Administration unnecessarily slowed the process of leasing offshore areas to energy companies for drilling; Secretary Salazar is now rescinding leasing plans for oil-shale development on federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
The amount of oil available through oil shale is staggering. Some estimates have 1.2 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil available in the Green River Formation, an area which expands through most of Colorado and parts of Utah and Wyoming. According to the U.S. Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management, a conservative estimate of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in the Green River Formation is three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, if full-scale production begins within five years, the U.S. could completely end its dependence on OPEC by 2020.
The oil shale industry experienced several hiccups in the 1970s and the industry has a ways to go before the resource becomes commercially viable, but its potential is enormous. The investment in technology and R&D is making the process cheaper, cleaner and safer for the environment. In effect, methods of harvesting oil shale force excess carbon back into the ground. Furthermore, nuclear energy is a clean source of power that can heat the shale to safely extract it from the ground.