Simultaneously the Obama administration is deliberating oil shale whether to continue research and development efforts of the energy source that Bobby McEnaney, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, refers to as “nothing more than a dirty, expensive pipe dream.”

GSI, with these agreements now in motion, can now test and further develop their patented, in situ gasification technology that recovers hydrocarbons from oil shale, oil sands and heavy oil. In situ gasification involves the heating of the shale underground and extracts the oil from the rock. This method, which GSI describes as an “environmentally low-impact and energy-self-sustainable gasification process,” is proposed as a potential solution to foreign oil dependency and high fossil fuel costs.

The question many environmentalists and environmental groups have been asking is what will be the cost to natural resources, such as land and water, of oil shale as an energy source. An in-situ process by Shell Oil has been confirmed to use a 3-to-1 water to oil ratio, while previous methods consumed water at a 5-to-1 ratio. Both methods still consuming less water than producing fuel from ethanol. This impact is offset by higher precipitation in corn growing areas, whereas some of the areas where oil shale is buried water is more scarce.

In Wyoming, under the exploration agreement with a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, 160 acres near Rock Springs will be used to test this new extraction method under “stringent environmental guidelines,” according to GSI. A report released by Western Resource Advocates earlier this month revealed that peak shale oil production, roughly 1.55 million barrels a day, would require an estimated 378,000 acre-feet of water a year. To compare and contrast, the Denver metro area consumes less than 300,000 acre-feet of water per year.

Colorado, a long heralded oil shale resource, is where GSI will be working to recover oil shale from 500 acres of private land in the Piceance Basin. The Piceance Basin, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey, holds an estimated 1.5 trillion barrels of in-place oil shale. The same study also added that there is currently no economic extraction method and that there are also over 43 billion tons of nahcolite (a mineral that results in large quantities of carbon dioxide when heated and is embedded with oil shale) present in the Basin.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has allowed research and development test projects to continue in Colorado and Utah while canceling planned expansion of oil shale exploration, as reported by the Environment News Service. In April, the Bureau of Land Management decided to review language in oil shale leases granted by the Bush Administration.

Oil shale does not contain crude oil, but rather contains kerogen, which must be heated in the oil production process. "Oil shale is rock, not oil," said Karin Sheldon, executive director of Western Resource Advocates. "Water is required to produce kerogen into a usable product, and it's not water-efficient."

GSI’s core analysis and geological data has led the company to expect an approximate yield of 700 million barrels of oil and oil equivalents. The company is also evaluating an additional 2,500 acres of oil shale mineral rights in the same area of Colorado.

Oil shale is a vast, largely untapped resource. Last year in an interview with Fortune Magazine, Senator Orrin Hatch said, “We have as much oil in oil shale in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado as the rest of the world's oil combined. Liberals and environmentalists can talk all they want about wind, solar and geothermal - all of which I'm for - but last time I checked, planes, trains, trucks, ships and cars don't run on electricity. 98% of transportation fuel right now is oil. Ethanol is the only real alternative, and we're seeing that ethanol has major limitations.” Ethanol's potential and environmental footprint has been receiving more attention from the Obama administration while oil shale leasing has received scrutiny.

As efficient as oil shale extraction processes may become, it remains in violation of basic sustainable tenets -- to reduce what we extract from and what harm we do to the Earth. Future energy demand cannot be solved by continuing to focus on limited resources, especially one that may put at risk ground water. However, as new methods such as GSI's come closer to implementation, water consumption and potential ground water contamination concerns may be greatly reduced.