On the heels of Congress lifting the moratorium on leasing lands to develop oil shale, Rand released a study that is as interesting for what's in it as for what's been left out.

RAND, a renowned non-profit that provides analyses on key policy issues, recently conducted a comprehensive study of the impacts and viability of all the dirty fuels: tar sands, coal-to-liquids, and oil shale.  Interestingly, when confronted with the inherent unknowns that define the currently non-existent oil shale industry, RAND chose not to attempt any further exploration of this key dirty fuel. RAND experts state in their report:

Although oil shale is also an important potential unconventional fossil resource, we do not address it in this report because fundamental uncertainty remains about the technology that could ultimately be used for large-scale extraction, as well as about its cost and environmental implications. The omission from this report of renewable fuel options and other propulsion technologies should not be interpreted as a conclusion that the fossil-based options are superior to others.

The inability to examine oil shale and address critical questions about its costs and environmental impacts speaks to a greater problem regarding this nation's emerging commitment to develop this resource - how can we proceed with creating regulations for an industry when we do not know what technology will be used and cannot identify its consequences?  

According to an expert at NRDC, the following are questions that cannot be answered conclusively by anyone associated with the oil shale industry - yet must be if we are to proceed with the development of this fuel: 

• How much energy will it take to extract fuel from oil shale?  Massive power generation will be required to extract the fuel out of the ground. How much and what form it will take - coal generation, nuclear - is something no one can answer.
• What will be the impacts to climate change?  The latest estimates are that oil shale production and combustion together will produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as current conventional fuels. It may be more.
• How will the petroleum products in oil shale actually be extracted?  At this point, squeezing oil out of rock at a profitable rate is nothing short of alchemy.  We cannot even begin to understand if this feat is an economically realistic proposition. 
• What will be the economic costs to the region and the nation as a whole?  U.S. taxpayers already are on the hook for over two billion dollars of federally backed subsidies for oil shale, as was recently mandated by the bailout bill.  This is money set aside for an industry that does not even exist yet.  The last time an oil shale industry was attempted in the U.S., in 1982, a bubble collapsed all investment; the impacts of that bubble are still felt to this day in local communities. 
• What will the impacts be to the air quality of the West?   Nearly all of the oil shale resources in the nation reside in the western United States, known for its pristine air quality.  It is unknown what an oil shale industry would do to the clean skies that define the region.
• The same goes for water; what will happen to the clean water upon which much of the West depends?  Oil shale production could contaminate the Colorado River Basin, rendering it unusable for many of the agricultural users who depend on its clean waters.
• How much water will be required to produce oil shale?  General estimates have shown that for every barrel of oil shale produced, three or more barrels of equivalent water would be required.  This shift of water usage could have massive impacts in this arid region where practically every drop of water is more valuable than gold. 
• What will be the health impacts to those who live in the region?  As we've seen with the proliferation of oil and gas drilling in the West, fossil fuel extraction dirties the air, water, and soil - causing unintended impacts to the health and wellbeing of the region's residents.
• What will happen to the fish and wildlife of the region?  All of these impacts will probably render the land that currently teems with wildlife utterly inhospitable.
• What will happen to the wildlands impacted by oil shale drilling?  Government estimates show that over two million acres of federally owned land would be subject to oil shale development in the wilds of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.  Oil shale drilling would require that any vegetation be scraped bare and hilly land would have to be leveled. It is difficult to imagine what the region will look like when the roads and pipelines necessary for oil shale production crisscross the landscape. 

With our economy in a state of crisis, now is not the time to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on dirty fuels like oil shale, coal to liquids, and tar sands.  Now is the time to make wise investments that will spur a green economy and create millions of new jobs. In excluding oil shale from its report, RAND suggests that we need these questions answered before we can consider oil shale, let alone start investing in its future.