Concerned Citizen says:
“Oil exploration virtually stopped in the U.S. twenty years ago.”
Oh? Ever hear about the Gulf of Mexico? There has been plenty of oil exploration in the US, and especially in the US section of the GoM.
However, what you may not know or perhaps don’t want to know is that oil fields deplete, thus one has to keep looking for new oil.
Concerned Citizen also says:
“…fire up oil shale”
Well, if by “fire” you mean burn it in a furnace then yes, that is pretty much all it is good for (e.g., kerogen shale is burned in some European countries as a replacement for coal.) For decades people have looked at the kerogen shales to try and figure out how to produce a liquid (which is what we want for transportation) from the shale, but so far all have failed. If anybody actually does accomplish it be assured that it would only be possible for that company *because* oil is so pricey and they will be able to charge much money for their product.
