FINAL WARNING: Ready to Spring the Trap
supply. The 1968 U.S. Geological Survey reported that the crude oil
potential of the Atlantic Ocean continental shelf area is 224 billion
barrels, the Gulf of Mexico has 575 billion barrels, the Pacific Coast
has 275 billion barrels, and Alaska has 502 billion barrels, which is a
grand total of 1,576 billion barrels. Only about 2% of these areas have
been leased, which at the time of the report, had yielded 615 million
barrels of oil, and 3.8 TCF (trillion cubic feet) of natural gas yearly.The Wall Street Journal said that we possessed “1001 years of natural
gas.” Only about 2% of the Outer Continental Shelf has been leased,
even though it may contain over half of our potential natural gas
reserves. Along the Atlantic Coast, there is a potential of 67 TCF of
gas, yet only about a dozen wells had been drilled in those areas. The
Potential Gas Committee said in 1972, that we had 1412 TCF in
reserve; in 1973, Mobil said we had 758 TCF; Exxon said we had 660-
1380 TCF; the U.S. Geological Survey reported in 1974, that we had 761-
1094 TCF in reserve; the National Academy of Sciences said in 1974,
that we had 885 TCF; and there were other reports which indicated that
we had over 700 TCF. These sources did not include the
unconventional sources of coalbeds, shale formations, “tight sand”
formations, and deep underground water areas.From conventional sources, our known reserves were estimated to be
about 237 TCF, and underground reserves were estimated to be about
530 TCF. An analysis of unconventional resources indicated the
following yield: tight sand (600 TCF), coal (250 TCF), shale (500 TCF),
underground water zones in the Gulf (200 TCF), and synthetic gas from
peat (1443 TCF). This all adds up to a total of 3,800 TCF of natural gas,
and with the U.S. using an average of 21 TCF a year, that would be
enough to provide us with another 100 years worth of energy. That
doesn’t take into account the synthetic gas obtainable from growing
marine bio-mass, such as the California Giant Kelp (Macrocystis
Pyrifera), which grows two feet per day, and could be a renewable
source for the production of synthetic gas.It is also estimated that the United States could have up to half of the
world’s known recoverable coal reserves, which could be about 200
billion tons– 45 billion of which is near the surface. At the time of this
report, maximum production up to 1985 would have only used 10% of
this reserve, even if no new reserves were discovered. In 1979, Herbert