Oct. 4th 2007

The new spin washington is slowly leaking out: oil shale and oil sand "the resources" is the U.S. salvation to the high prices of gasoline.

The "GREEN RIVER FORMATION" in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming has the world's largest untapped oil supply (62 %). Yeah, it's call oil shale or oil sand. Oil shale is not oil, it's a highly concentrated organic compound of "KEROGEN" in sedimentary rock formation.

It can be converted to crude oil through a very costly process of heating (700 degrees F ) and distilling. It's a dirty, smelly, stinkin', gooey and long process. Then, it has to be refined in a very special expensive way. The real theory that floating behind closed doors is oil shale will be used someday, but only as a last resort.

All of this hype is to divert the country's thinking away from the Iraq (possible, soon to be Iran) war. The persian Gulf, which flows between Iran and Iraq, has the largest single source of the world's crude oil. It's in hands of the OPEC nations. The gasoline barons of the world, simply want their piece of the pie.

Yes, the U.S. and other countries are facing an oil crisis. Biofuels and hybrids are only a tempory bandage for our situation. Will oil shale be the "big fix"??

America's oil doesn't bubble up to the surface anymore. Production of petroleum is in decline. That's except in the Persian Gulf.

There are almost 150 million automobiles burning gasoline today. The "life span" of an automobile is in the range of 15 years. Now, just how long do you think it would take to remove that fleet of cars with hybrids??

No, corn isn't the answer. According to many studys, we could plant all of of the country's farmland and that still wouldn't be enough. It would only supply about 15 % of the country's oil consumption.

So, you ask what is the answer?? Hell, it got to be in conservation of its use. War consumes a whole lot of crude oil. End the Iraq war and don't start another one, use diplomacy to settle disputes. Maybe, cities should go back to trolly cars? How about railroads instead of semi's? Putting that working "MOM" back into the house. Gosh, it could be in a combination of things, as mentioned above?

Go softly into the night. mgf Visit: www.michaelgfrancisco-chicago-mystery-author.com AND www.secrets-blog.com