On Apr 6, 5:01*pm, "Private" wrote:

Just a small nitpick, the Canadian non-conventional oil is in the form of
oil-sand / tar-sand. *IIRC oil shale is located under Colorado and is
reported to contain more oil than the mid east or Canada. *IIRC the Colorado
oil shale is deeper underground than the Canadian tar-sand but Canada is now
developing & using SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) to recover
deposits that are too deep for economical open pit extraction. *I suspect
that this technology could be applied in Colorado if there was the will to
develop these deposits. *IIRC tar-sand production cost is ~$60 and suspect
that Colorado oil shale woild be similar but YMMV. *We can only speculate as
to the motives that prefer war to domestic development.

Interesting! I hadn't heard about the Colorado oil shale before. I
just did a little surfing and it sounds like it would require a lot of
water to extract this oil. There is concern that it would use all the
capacity of the Colorado river that is not currently allocated.

Personally I wish we had taken the money we have wasted on the war and
put it to work here at home for research into alternative energy
sources. Then it would have funded more American jobs, and maybe
contributed to a long-term sustainable energy plan. I would like to
see a serious, well-funded attempt to develop a working fusion
reactor, for example.

Phil