tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4321459530839105281.post-9198067222314216212008-07-22T13:29:00.000-07:002008-07-29T10:39:09.181-07:00<em><span style="font-size:78%;">contributed by Matt Kirby</span></em><br /><br />President Bush is expected <a href="http://www.grist.org/news/2008/07/22/shaleshillin/">today</a> to call on Congress to lift the ban on oil shale development. In what seems like a nightmarish déjà vu of Bush’s call to Congress to lift the OCS drilling moratorium a little over a week ago, we have yet another dangerous proclamation taking advantage of hysteria over high gas prices. It has become standard protocol of the Drill Here, Drill Now crowd to play on the fears and economic insecurities of an American populace that is feeling very real pain. But this time, instead of conveniently ignoring the paltry 18 billion barrels of oil available in the OCS, they’re playing up the statistic that oil shale could yield 800 billion barrels of oil in the future.<br /><br />Ridiculous.<br /><br />There’s a reason, a very good one, why oil shale development has not taken hold in this country: <em>it’s not economically viable</em>. It involves literally heating shale to temperatures ranging from 800-1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The process is an energy hog, to say the least. Not to mention that it takes three barrels of water per every barrel of oil, not a small issue in the arid West. It would also “destroy much of the state of Colorado,” according to <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2008/07/22/stop-the-shale-oil-madness-from-destroying-the-climate-and-colorado/#more-3401">Climate Progress</a>. No wonder that Colorado Senator Ken Salazar managed to prohibit commercial oil-shale development last year by sticking a provision into a spending bill. Now the West is in danger again from short-sighted policies designed by special interests and twisted to take advantage of an economically strained American public.Matt Kirbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865362286979772337noreply@blogger.com