http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=OILSHALE-05-02-06&cat=AN

Experts doubt oil shale answer to energy crisis

Massive deposits of oil shale are locked up under America's Western prairies, but even with crude prices at historic highs, some experts doubt it will become economical to extract it anytime soon.........

Oil shale is a misnomer, since the rock is neither oil nor shale but a substance like peat that is essentially immature oil that never went through the earth's underground heating process..........

Walter Youngquist, a retired University of Oregon geology professor, says he's considered ways of exploiting America's untapped oil shale resources for 40 years and concludes that extracting commercial amounts is like a mirage: every time it is approached, it just keeps retreating into the distance.

Youngquist said it takes more energy to extract a barrel of oil than the amount of energy recovered.

It's not just the issue of committing energy to the project, but the amounts of oil that can be produced from oil shale aren't going to be an immediate solution to America's problems, Youngquist argues. Environmental consequences are also significant, he said.

"I'm not very enthusiastic about the prospect,'' said Youngquist. "When you look at alternative energy sources, there's no comprehensive substitute for oil."

Youngquist, an advocate of population control, said the only way to solve the energy crisis is to CURB DEMAND, AND GROWTH.

Another Bush proposed alternative energy solution shows itself to be nothing more than a Mirage. It makes no sense to take a given volume of oil, and get less oil out of a conversion process, than you put in. EROEI negative. Plus, can you imagine all the environmental destruction it would cause, ripping massive quantities of these mis-named " oil shale " deposits out of the earth, just like they are already doing up in Canada with the Tar Sands.