RI 4269 Mining Program, Bureau Of Mines Oil-Shale Project. Rifle, Colo.

The American petroleum industry is supplying the present domestic demand for liquid fuels. Known reserves of petroleum in the ground, however, are limited, and the .cost per barrel of finding new oil pools is increasing. Any deficiencies of domestic production in the near future doubtlessly could be made up by imports: Dependence upon foreign oil for part of our industrial requirements is not necessarily cause for alarm, but in time of war an adequate, dependable, domestic source of liquid fuels is vital to the defense of the country. As a national defense measure, and to insure a future continuous oil supply for our economic machine, it would appear logical to take steps now to develop methods for producing petroleum substitutes within our own borders. This undoubtedly was in the mind of Congress when it passed the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act (58 stat.190; 30 U. S. C. Sup. Secs. 321-325), Approved April 5, 1944.The title' of the Law reads: An Act authorizing the construction and operation of demonstration plants to produce synthetic liquid fuels from coal, oil shales, agricultural and forestry products, and other substances, in order to aid the prosecution of the war, to conserve and increase the oil resources of the Nation, and for other purposes. Congress authorized $30,000,000 for a 5-year program and directed the Bureau of Mines to carry it out. The part of the program pertaining to oil shale is being conducted on Naval Oil-Shale Reserves Nos. 1 and 3 (fig. 1) at Anvil Points, near Rifle, Colo.