Oil shale development: Big costs for a small return

More than half the world’s oil shale is found in Utah and Colorado and, for a century, men have tried to unlock this energy source. The rocks have proved stubborn, promising much, delivering little.
“I find it disturbing that we import oil from Canadian tar sands, even though our oil shale resource remains undeveloped,” complains Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Oil shale is a poor fuel. Compared to the coal that launched the Industrial Revolution and the petroleum that sustains modern life, oil shale is the dregs. Coal seams a few feet thick are worth mining because coal contains lots of energy. If coal is good, petroleum is even better. And oil shale? Pound per pound, it contains just one-tenth the energy of crude oil and one-sixth that of coal.

..Oil shale contains far less energy than hog manure, peat moss or even household garbage. A meager amount of energy tightly bound up in an enormous volume of rock, oil shale seems destined to remain an elusive bonanza, the petroleum equivalent of fool’s gold.

Salt Lake Tribune