Home » Posts tagged 'united states geological society'
Tag Archives: united states geological society
USGS says Powder River Basin has 35 years of coal left, not 250
USGS says Powder River Basin has 35 years of coal left, not 250
Preface. The USGS did a survey of coal in the U.S. in 1974 and announced that America had 250 years of coal left. In 2007, the National Research Council wrote a report suggesting 100 years was more likely due to “a combination of increased rates of production…transportation issues, recoverability, and location”, and that the USGS ought to re-survey the U.S. to find out.
Not until 2015 was a new survey done on the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana, which supplies 45% of U.S. coal. The USGS found that at best, 40 years of coal were left (35 years in 2020). Here’s how the USGS calculated this in Billions of Short Tons:
- 1,156 BST original resources (mostly coal that isn’t economic or technologically obtainable).
- 1,148 BST after subtracting out previously mined coal
- 179 BST geological constraints; subtract Environmental, societal, technological restrictions
- 162 BST Subtract too deep, too thin, high stripping ratios, mining technology limitations
- 25 BST 2% of original resource estimate after subtracting coal that is more expensive than the market value of coal
Then in 2017, the Little snake river and red desert coal fields were assesed again. Originally there were 19.37 BST in resources, but at this point in time there is only 1% of this original resource, 167 million short tons of reserves that are economically and technologically obtainable (Shaffer 2017).
There are 5 more basins that the USGS has yet to asses: the Raton and Piceance Basins in the Rocky Mountain Province, the Williston Basin in the Northern Great Plains Province (lignite), the Illinois Basin, the northern Appalachian Basin, and the Gulf Coast Province (lignite) (USGS 2017b). I question whether lignite is worth getting, it has roughly the same energy as wood.
The only major news media it appeared in was U.S. News and World Report and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Shale Oil Keeps Growing on Trees
The United States Geological Society (USGS) today released a report stating there is an estimated 46.3 billion barrels of theoretical, technically recoverable, as yet undiscovered light tight oil reserves in the Wolfcamp, Bone Springs and Avalon shaley carbonate formations in the Delaware Basin of West Texas. Shale oil, it seems, keeps growing on trees.
There are lot of “qualifications” to this estimate but it will nevertheless cause people’s panties to get plum bunched up, including the President of the United States who believes we are sitting on the Atlantic Ocean of light tight oil in America, so much so we no longer even have to worry about conserving the stuff anymore.
What price of oil will it take for all this imaginary oil to actually be recovered in the Delaware Basin? Well, the USGS does not bother itself with that kind of small stuff. Taxpayers pay for it to make wild ass guesses and that’s that.
Art Berman reviewed the study in detail to determine the USGS itself estimates it will take 318,000 wells to recover this oil, costing over $3.0 trillion. Some of the USGS EUR estimates for various benches in their assessment will only be economical at oil prices above $150 per BO.
Where that money is going to come from beats the hell out of me. The US shale oil industry has drilled almost 70,000 shale wells the past decade all across America and is hammering its sweet spots in the major shale oil basins. It has recovered a little less than 10 billion barrels of oil so far (EIA, DI, IHS, shaleprofile.com). The shale oil industry is somewhere around $300 billion in long term debt, so it essentially has not even paid for what its already produced.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
USGS: Yellowstone Super Volcano Threat Set To ‘HIGH’
USGS: Yellowstone Super Volcano Threat Set To ‘HIGH’
The United States Geological Survey has increased the Yellowstone supervolcano threat to “high.” This is the first time that the USGS has updated its volcano threat assessments list since 2006.
The USGS said that 11 of the 18 volcanoes they have classified as a “high threat” or a “very high threat” are located in Washington, Oregon, or California, “where explosive and often snow- and ice-covered edifices can project hazards long distances to densely populated and highly developed areas.”
According to the Epoch Times, the danger list is topped by Kilauea in Hawaii, which has been erupting continuously in 2018. Mount St. Helens as well as Mount Rainier in Washington, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, and California’s Mount Shasta are also in the top five, according to what the USGS has said.
Although the Yellowstone supervolcano is a “high” threat, it’s only the 21st most dangerous volcano in the United States. According to Forbes, the assessment that Yellowstone supervolcano was only high was not assigned on a whim. While theYellowstone supervolcano does have the potential for a large eruption, other factors are at play. Such as the fact that it erupts so infrequently, shows no signs of increasing eruption risk today, and is located in a relatively sparsely populated area of the United States which decreases the threat. To be clear, the USGS still ranked the supervolcano as a “high” threat, but it is clearly not the most dangerous volcano in the United States.
Despite the recent gradual uptick in thermal activity in the caldera directly below the supervolcano, the new USGS threat assessment is showing Yellowstone as stable, but dangerous when it does happen to erupt in the future, according to a report by the Missoulan.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
