AAPG GEO-DC Blog

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management today issued oil shale leasing regulations, paving the way for commercial oil shale leasing and development.

In the press release accompanying the final rule, Interior Asst. Secretary for Land and Minerals Management C. Stephen Allred said, “The U.S. needs all types of energy resources, both conventional and renewable, in order to meet our future needs…Production from domestic resources makes us more secure and less vulnerable to future energy crises, and increases our security and economic well-being. The tremendous oil shale resources that we have in the U.S., containing several times the oil …

Using the most recent annual report and projections by the International Energy Agency, The Economist has plotted the sources of electrical power from 1990 to 2030.  Renewables see significant growth, but coal continues to contribute the largest percentage of global power.

AAPG President Scott Tinker has spent a lot of time this year talking about the need to build a bridge to our energy future.

During his campaign, President-elect Obama said that energy was his top priority.  And while the evolving financial crisis has certainly risen to the top of the priority list, energy remains a primary focus.  But what exactly will it look like, and will it be tied to economic recovery policies?

In a Time Magazine article today, author Joe Klein investigates what Obama’s plan for a new energy economy would look like, identifying five elements:

1. A bailout for automakers that demands higher fuel efficiency standards
2. Infrastructure …

The Washington Post reports that today the U.S. Geological Survey will issue a resource assessment of Alaska’s gas hydrates “estimating that 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be extracted…an amount that could heat more than 100 million average homes for more than a decade.”

This doesn’t mean that commercial production of these resources is imminent, but it does suggest a vast natural gas resource trapped in Alaska’s gas hydrates.

Check the USGS energy page later today for additional information.

UPDATE:  USGS Press Release announcing study
UPDATE:  USGS Gas Hydrates page with …