On the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains, teams of scientists and engineers are working on a feat of modern day alchemy: turning rocks into oil. The object of their attention is听oil shale, a rock so rich in an oil-like substance that certain pieces will ignite when held up to a flame.
Piceance Creek runs through lands that are part of the Oldland Spur Ranch鈥�
No place in the world has more oil shale 鈥� an听听large enough to dwarf the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia 鈥� than the American West鈥檚 Shale Country, the region that straddles the T-shaped border of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. And although daunting technical, economic, environmental, and political challenges must be dealt with before it will be a viable resource, the potential听听attached to tapping such an immense domestic energy supply are hard to ignore. The allure of freeing the oil in these rocks has convinced some of the world鈥檚 largest energy companies (and dozens of their smaller counterparts) to place big bets on the future of oil shale.
The prospect of extracting oil from the rocks of Shale Country raises many questions, both practical and philosophical:
- What can we learn from past experiences with oil shale and other Western resource booms, and what lessons can guide us as we move into the future?
- Who are the stakeholders that will be affected by oil shale development? What are their rights, and what responsibilities do they have to one another?
- Can the inherent value of a preserved environment be quantified or successfully balanced against the benefits of energy development?
- What does the concept of sustainability mean in the context of oil shale development?
Our ability to discuss these questions as a society, and the answers we ultimately arrive at, will reverberate beyond Shale Country and through the larger debate about our nation鈥檚 energy policy in the 21st century.
About This Guide
This online guidebook to Shale Country aims to be an accessible, informative, and evenhanded overview of the compelling and often contentious issues surrounding oil shale. We will update it regularly with new developments in Shale Country to ensure that it stays current as Americans debate the wisdom of pursuing oil shale development as part of a long-term strategy for our nation鈥檚 energy security.
RD&D operations at Shell鈥檚 Mahogany Research Project鈥�
We believe that history can provide crucial perspective on the dilemmas that face us in the present, reducing the agitation of the moment and turning down the heat on conflicts. As the public discussion grows in agitation and heat, the prospect of oil shale development in the 21st century offers a prime opportunity to test this belief. Therefore, we begin our guide with a look at the history of oil shale, from the听听of the rock that burns to the tumultuous听听and听听cycle that rocked the Western Slope in the late 1970s and early 鈥�80s.
We further believe that we can harness the lessons of this look backward in the service of foresight. In the second part of this guide, after surveying some of the current research and development being conducted on听听and听听in Shale Country, we explore ways in which contemporary stakeholders can听听and more effectively manage the听听and听听challenges posed by the prospect of oil shale development.
We hope this guide will serve as a basis for a broader discussion about our nation鈥檚 energy policy and the impact it has on our lives and landscapes. Our goal has been to present the ideas and information that should be on the minds of responsible citizens as they consider the possibilities and potential pitfalls of oil shale development in the 21st century. This online guidebook is a place where we hope you will find the opportunity to consider respectfully the positions taken by people on all sides of the issue; to think with depth, breadth, and recognition of complexity about an issue of great importance to the West; and to participate in a deeper, more responsible, more productive form of decisionmaking about it.
About the Authors
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Patty Limerick听is the Faculty Director and Chair of the Board of the Center of the American West at the 乐播传媒-Boulder, where she is also a Professor of History. Limerick has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between academics and the general public and to demonstrating the benefits of applying historical perspective to contemporary dilemmas and conflicts. Visit听听to read Patty鈥檚 full bio.
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Jason L. Hanson听is a member of the Research Faculty at the Center of the American West at the 乐播传媒-Boulder, where his work focuses on topics related to energy development, mining, and the environment. Some of his recent projects include听High Energy Prices and Low-Income Americans: Reducing the Risk of Unintended Injury听and听What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy Efficiency and Conservation.
Ryan W. Rebhan听is a research assistant at the Center of the American West, where he has spent most of his time focusing on oil shale. Ryan graduated听magna cum laude听in History at the 乐播传媒-Boulder and he hails from Rifle, Colorado