THOMAS B. NOLAN 55 



It is especially noteworthy too that even for these natural resources — 

 which as everyone knows cannot be replaced when once consumed — 

 we now think of the means by which needs for these commodities can 

 be met, rather than express concern over their imminent exhaustion. 



How has this change in opinion come about? In general, it has been 

 a gradual process that has been in part the result of new or potential 

 production from sources that were unknown or not regarded as capa- 

 ble of exploitation in 1907, and in part through the development and 

 utilization of substances that supplemented or replaced the common 

 materials of the past. 



I had the privilege of reviewing these developments at the Mid- 

 Century Conference sponsored by Resources for the Future a little 

 over four years ago; ^^ it will be helpful, and instructive, I believe, to 

 examine that review and bring it up to date. It was proposed at that 

 time that three major fields of research had been, and would continue 

 to be, productive in expanding our resource base of the useful expend- 

 able materials. 



The first of these major fields of research is that directed toward 

 a better understanding of the origin of the kinds of deposits currently 

 being exploited, and related studies on new and improved tools and 

 techniques by which additional like deposits could be found, even 

 though they might not be exposed at the earth's surface. 



The petroleum industry is probably the best example of the effec- 

 tiveness of this approach. It has provided the country with proven 

 reserves of petroleum that are today sevenfold larger than those of 

 only thirty-five years ago. I believe that this can, to a large degree, 

 be attributed to industry-supported studies on the origin of oil and 

 the factors that control its migration and accumulation, as well as a 

 most elaborate and effective development of geologic, geochemical, 

 geophysical techniques and instruments that have improved our 

 ability to locate petroleum accumulations economically and efficiently. 



It is true that we still must face the eventual exhaustion of our oil 

 fields and Hubbert ^'^ has recently prepared an interesting and instruc- 



15 Thomas B. Nolan, "The Way Ahead for Research in Nonrenewable Re- 

 sources," The Nation Looks at Its Resources (Washington: Resources for the 

 Future, Inc., 1954), pp. 314-16. 



16 M. King Hubbert, Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels (Shell Develop- 

 ment Company Publication 95, 1956), 40 pp. 



