Oh yea, free enterprise is awesome :tup:
This is great news and if we’re able to utilize it within a reasonable span of time, it will allow us to better bridge the technology and infrastructure gap between dependence on oil and another renewable energy source… because right now there is no bridge…
But forget the economics of it. We all know this will come down to politics.
Before you even start to talk about it being feasible, you have to get passed the fact that most people have the “not in my back yard” mentality.
And watch all of this progress get halted by one person who says that extraction of this oil will kill off a “rare, spotted newt” or effect the migration patterns of some bird.
Someone from Hollywood will fly out to Colorado to protest, get on the news, and convince a million people that “big, bad oil is killing innocent animals.” Immediately after that, they’ll fly to Dubai to party with people who made their money off an oil extraction process uninhibited by environmental regulation or public opinion.
Sadly, you’re probably right. But the drive to use local oil is probably enough might be enough to back burner the eco-nuts.