The United States imports about 66 percent of its oil; yet Congress has done little to remedy the situation. Instead it has erected barriers to domestic energy production. Fortunately the United States has vast quantities of oil in rocks including oil shale which can be converted into fuel. In fact we have 75 percent of the worlds oil shale says H. Sterling Burnett a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Unfortunately due to radical environmentalists sway over key Democratic lawmakers this oil is off-limits to production. But removing barriers would include auctioning public lands with oil shale for production and streamlining the permitting process says Burnett:
• Per acre oil shale is significantly more concentrated than the oil and gas on Alaskas North Slope Albertas tar sand or ethanol production.
• Indeed some shale contains more than one million barrels of oil per acre.
• By contrast conventional oil fields yield about 10000 barrels per acre and Congresss preferred alternative to oil ethanol from corn yields contains the equivalent of 10 barrels per acre.
Moreover developing Americas domestic oil shale resources would also provide an economic boon to a flailing economy says Burnett:
• The RAND Corporation estimates that a three million bbl/day industry could generate $20 billion in annual profits while reducing prices for consumers.
• In addition oil shale development and production would create as many as 100000 direct and indirect new jobs during the operation of just a two million bbl/day shale oil industry.
However the Obama administration has already cancelled leases on several parcels of federal land that had been auctioned for oil shale production. It also halted the auction of others says Burnett.
To further our national interests Congress and the Obama administration should remove current barriers to oil shale production suggests Burnett.
Source: H. Sterling Burnett Developing shale oil may solve our energy crisis Washington Examiner July 29 2009.
For text:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Developing-shale-oil-may-solve-our-energy-crisis-8032159-51919372.html
The United States imports about 66 percent of its oil; yet Congress has done little to remedy the situation. Instead it has erected barriers to domestic energy production. Fortunately the United States has vast quantities of oil in rocks including oil shale which can be converted into fuel. In fact we have 75 percent of the worlds oil shale says H. Sterling Burnett a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.
Unfortunately due to radical environmentalists sway over key Democratic lawmakers this oil is off-limits to production. But removing barriers would include auctioning public lands with oil shale for production and streamlining the permitting process says Burnett:
• Per acre oil shale is significantly more concentrated than the oil and gas on Alaskas North Slope Albertas tar sand or ethanol production.
• Indeed some shale contains more than one million barrels of oil per acre.
• By contrast conventional oil fields yield about 10000 barrels per acre and Congresss preferred alternative to oil ethanol from corn yields contains the equivalent of 10 barrels per acre.
Moreover developing Americas domestic oil shale resources would also provide an economic boon to a flailing economy says Burnett:
• The RAND Corporation estimates that a three million bbl/day industry could generate $20 billion in annual profits while reducing prices for consumers.
• In addition oil shale development and production would create as many as 100000 direct and indirect new jobs during the operation of just a two million bbl/day shale oil industry.
However the Obama administration has already cancelled leases on several parcels of federal land that had been auctioned for oil shale production. It also halted the auction of others says Burnett.
To further our national interests Congress and the Obama administration should remove current barriers to oil shale production suggests Burnett.
Source: H. Sterling Burnett Developing shale oil may solve our energy crisis Washington Examiner July 29 2009.
For text:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Developing-shale-oil-may-solve-our-energy-crisis-8032159-51919372.html
