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just wrong. We have at least 100 years of petroleum resources in this country.” In 1976, proven
resources were set at 37 billion barrels and the estimated recoverable resources were set at 150
billion barrels. This is about a 50-year supply at current usage levels. The American Petroleum
Institute said in their 1977 Annual report, that recoverable crude was set at 30.9 billion barrels,
and with today’s technology, the amount of recoverable crude was 303.5 billion barrels, which is
about an 80-year 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 Foster, Vice-President
of the National Coal Association, said: “America has three trillion tons of coal out there, ready to
be mined ... all we produced last year was 590 million tons. That’s only one pound of coal for
every 2-1/2 tons still in the ground. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated our coal reserves
will last us well into the next century.” One reason coal development has been held up, is that
40% of all reserves are on land owned by the Federal Government, and environmentally-minded
citizens.
The book The Next 200 Years by Herman Kahn and the Hudson Institute said: “Allowing for
the growth of energy demand ... we conclude that the proven reserves of these five major fossil
fuels (oil, natural gas, coal, shale, and tar sands) alone could provide the world’s total energy
requirements for about 100 years, and only one-fifth of the estimated potential reserves sources
could provide for more than 200 years of the projected energy needs.” The Hudson Institute said
in 1974: “There is no shortage of energy fuels.” Antony Sutton wrote: “The energy ‘crisis’ is a