THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 
Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Ill., 60605 
Number 145 March 1968 
rls APIS SPB INCE S| dey Nierl= 
by RAYMOND MOSTEK 
Not very much has been said about it in the nation’s press, but Americans 
now own five to seven TRILLION dollars of oil on public land in the Green 
River formation in Northwest Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The USS. 
Geological Survey indicates that this area contains two thousand billion 
barrels of oil — shale oil. It is an item of interest that deserves far more 
attention and publicity than it has now received. Some senators who are 
aware of its great implications and wealth have suggested that the new 
shale oil riches be used to retire America’s huge national debt; others have 
urged that a portion of this wealth be earmarked for conservation uses to 
reduce the blight of the nation and to purchase new park lands. 
Since the cost of water and air 
pollution control is astronomical, 
some conservationists in Congress 
have suggested that some oil 
wealth be used to restore the health 
of our streams and lakes. The pre- 
sent cost of reducing water pollu- 
tion in this country to a tolerable 
level is estimated at over $125 
billion. Every year that effective 
control is delayed increases the 
cost, for the price of apathy has 
always been great. Offshore oil 
lands owned by the U.S.A. are now 
returning several hundred million 
dollars to the government, due to 
recent wise legislation. 
A National Citizens Committee 
on Shale Oil has been suggested. 
It would be a permanent committee 
composed of experts in conserva- 
tion, taxation, and oil extraction 
technology. The committee would 
protect the public interest. 
Before he retired as president of 
the National Audubon Society, 
Carl Buchheister pointed to the 
great needs of our cities — urging 
vast changes to correct problems 
in housing, transportation, and 
recreation. It would be helpful also 
if some of the huge funds soon to 
be earned from shale oil produc- 
tion could be turned back to the 
people of the cities, where almost 
80 per cent of our population now 
resides. If the public ignores this 
issue, the federal government will 
likely surrender its wealth to pri- 
vate groups to the eventual detri- 
ment of the citizens. Conservation- 
ists have a great stake in the prob- 
lem and solution; we trust that 
they will not ignore it. 
Notes from the Nest: Interior Sec- 
retary Udall in a recent pronounce- 
ment has ruled out a transmoun- 
tain road across the Great Smoky 
Mountain National Park. The road 
