Friday, October 05, 2007

Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels

The Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels was established in 2005 by Congress and charged with the following objectives:
  • “… develop a program to coordinate and accelerate the commercial development of strategic unconventional fuels, including, but not limited to, oil shale and tar sands resources within the United States, in an integrated manner” [Sec 369(h)(1)], and to
  • “make such recommendations regarding promoting the development of the strategic unconventional fuels resources within the United States as it may deem appropriate” [Sec 369 (h)(3)]; and to
  • “make recommendations with respect to initiating a partnership with the Province of Alberta Canada for purposes of sharing information relating to the development and production of oil from tar sands, and similar partnerships with other nations that contain significant oil shale resources”. [Sec 369 (h)(4)]
The task force is chaired by Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah and Governor Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky. Their three volume strategy and program plan, as well as the report to the president is now available online.

The Department of Energy has a new site, energycodes.gov that includes access to energy code software, webcasts, and other online services. The state of Utah offered a training course earlier this week. Other commercial and residential training is available online.

This roadmap from Alberta offers some suggestions for U.S. energy planners.

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