First oil shale mine in U.S. is coming to Utah

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/news/first-oil-shale-mine-in-u-s-is-coming-to-utah/

?w=470&h=264
Utah’s Uinta Basin before shale mining begins.

As if we didn’t already have enough filthy, inefficient, unconventional oil-extraction techniques in use in North America, here’s one more: oil shale mining.

A Utah company has received the go-ahead from the state’s water-quality department to begin operating the first commercial oil shale mine in North America.

Oil shale is not to be confused with shale oil, or shale gas, or oil sands. So what the hell is it? “Contrary to its name,” explains Western Resource Advocates, “oil shale contains no petroleum but is instead a dense rock that has a waxy substance called kerogen tightly bound within it. When kerogen is heated to high temperatures, it liquefies, producing compounds that can eventually be refined into synthetic petroleum products.”

[earthside]

1. This too will fail.

There have been oil shale extraction projects going back at least 50 or 60 years now.
They have all ended up in failure because ultimately the physics just don't work.

There is the whole 'energy invested on energy returned' problem.

Much bigger energy corporations with much deeper pockets than Red Leaf Resources have tried this and eventually given up.

The renewed interest in trying to extract kerogen from rock demonstrates once again the truth of Peak Oil.
The production of cheap, easy to produce petroleum has peaked and we are well into the phase of 'unconventional' oil production. Maybe this plateau will last another five or ten years ... then it is off the cliff.

[pscot]

2. I thought shale production needed lots of water

That photo looks kind of dry.