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. ~.... (0 o c";1 12 billion b2r:=ls of oil. These resou~ces repr~5ent a significant ~mount of oil for the U~~ted States, if aQ econo~ically feasible ~ay to exploit ttlem is davaloped. Economic :ecovery of oil from shale de?cncs on a numoer of tnlngs. One strong influence is the world mark~c price for ail. The currerlt (1978) price is about $11 per ~arrel, which ia enough to encourage experiQentation with oil shale, but i~ is esti~ated the world ?rice would need to reach $1J per barrel for shale oil production to be an economic enterprise. Retorting of shale to recover the solid organic matter--ke~ogen-- is done by heating the rock to temperatures abQv~ 900op, at which ?oint the kerogen pyrolyzes into oil vapors which can then be recovered. Several ~ethods of retorting hav~ b~en developed, none of which is absolutely superior to any other in ~erms of p~oducts derived or in econo~ic viability. Rowever, much r~5earch is currently being done on the topics of oil shale mi~i~g, chemistry, a~d ~ngineering in anticit12tion of esentually de~:el()ping a full-scale cO~Ler..:i2.1 in\iustry. Coal . The Nest~rn 5tates are ~~dc~ed with an abunda~ce of coal: ~il~ coal from the e~s~ern part of the t;nit2d States has historically been important to the 3rowth of th~ Nacion, western co~ls ar~ ~ecoming increasii1g1y signifi.:anc in thei:- contribution ::'0 ::.he overall :lat:.onal e~e~gy picture. The coals of the five-state area of the U?pe~ Col'~r2jc River drainage contribute a major portio~ of the tot21 ~e5~er~ c021 reserve a~d total reSOt..:.rC2. ihe total coal :-e.sou'....ce ba.s :i.O::' yet been quantified, ~ut additional discoveries every year add to t~~ mi~ing potenti21 of th~ ~egion. Several ~har~ctetistics or ~~ster~ coals ~ak~ ~hern purticu13~ly ad"a~ltageous for use under modern energy requi~Ements and current air poll;jt ion restrictions. Ar.:J.ong these are the low sulfur c?nd so:ne'.vh2.t '.Jari2ble ash content, mediuT. to high otu values, and gene.r.3.l1y good quality bit~incus and subbituminous coal ranks. The relatively low sulfur and ash qualities are particularly good b2cause of i~creasing concern about air pollution in major urban areas. In the coal ?icture for the entire United States, western coals are far younger in de?ositio~al age than ar~ the eastern coals, and they tend to be covered by less overburden. Thus, most western coal is lo~er in rank--s~bbitu~inous up to the lot.er divisions of the bitu~inous r2~k. The only important anthracite deposit in the Uppe~ Colorado River Region is in Gunnison County, Colorado. Much western coa:, particularly in wyoming, is neither deeply buried by overburden, nor has it been sub- jected to complex folding~ faulti~g, heat, and pre~sure of metamorphism, which would have lowered the moiscure content arid incr~ased the rank. . 1-3