U.S. has plenty of oil, just not the go-ahead

In the April 24 edition, guest columnist Michael Kraft (Herbert professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay) stated: “The United States uses more than 20 percent of the world's oil production, yet it has only about 2 to 3 percent of oil reserves. Trying to achieve energy independence in this way (drilling in the United States) is delusional. The fields off Virginia, for example, contain only an estimated 130 million barrels of oil, or about six days' worth at our current level of use.”

Professor Kraft seems to be unaware of the total oil reserves and the potential recoverable reserves in this country. The U.S. oil reserves in the oil shales are about 2.1 trillion barrels.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (ost

seis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/index.cfm) estimates that oil resources in place within the Green River Formation (Colorado, Utah, etc.) oil shales range from 1.2 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels.

A moderate estimate of recoverable oil from that formation is about 800 billion barrels - three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. The United States uses about 20 million barrels of oil a day.

There are other, smaller, U.S. deposits of oil shale, and a reasonable estimate of the total amount of oil in shales is a little over 2 trillion barrels. We are not running out of oil, we just are not allowed to go and get it.

Paul Rudolph

Coralville