Sidebar to "Is energy independence hiding beneath our public lands."

What lies beneath

The Bush administration claims that opening up previously protected public lands is critical to meet our future energy demands. Below is an analysis of what could be recovered from six western states, including Colorado:

Economically recoverable gas in national forest roadless areas of our study area would meet total U.S. gas consumption for about nine to eleven weeks.

Economically recoverable oil in those roadless areas would meet total U.S. oil consumption for less than twenty-four days.

The fifteen national monuments contain less than six days of gas use and fifteen days of oil use for the United States.

Source: Energy and Western Wildlands: A GIS Analysis of Economically Recoverable Oil and Gas by Pete Morton, Ph.D., Chris Weller, and Janice Thomson, Ph.D.