Here's an interesting read, important and verifiable information :

About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and
one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest. The host said to Forbes, "I am going to
ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer; how much oil
does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "more
than all the Middle East put together." Please read below.

The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only
scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a
revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in
this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana ..... check THIS out:

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe
Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign
oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion
barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel,
we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5..3 trillion.

"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see
their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.." says Terry Johnson, the Montana
Legislature's financial analyst.

"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found
in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a
formation known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the
'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and
into Canada.. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead
end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells
decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up
the Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500
billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels
will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years
straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one
should - because it's from 2006!

U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the
largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION
barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In
three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this
motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders,
than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia

- 18-times as much oil as Iraq

- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait

- 22-times as much oil as Iran

- 500-times as much oil as Yemen

- and it's all right here in the Western United States .

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the
environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America
become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of
people dictate our lives and our economy.....WHY?

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in
this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION
barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in
the world today, reports The Denver Post.

Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think
again!
It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to. Think OPEC just
might be funding the environmentalists?

http://www.usgs.gov/newsr...p?ID=1911>

This is going to be a very interesting century.

Hhmmm ...

It is verifiable that the Bakken Formation exists, but much of the rest of that chain letter is not accurate and obviously carries a bias, precisely the purpose of the majority of the chain letters like this.

The Snopes page on this one reveals the truth.

Although Snopes is taking on the version of this that went around a few years ago--the version that claims it would be enough oil for 41 years, not the 2,041 years that is ridiculously claimed here.

In short, the oil would last the U.S. about a year in reality, given current technology.

Mars23 said:

Interesting. makes u wonder.....do people just site around making stuff up? If so, what is the purpose?

Graycap23 said:

The purpose is to sway the easily swayed to a viewpoint. There is a depressing amount of people that will simply believe what they read in their inbox. People with an agenda seize on this.

The right wing in this country has perfected the e-mail chain letter. They understand that if you repeat, or in this case forward a lie enough times, it becomes the truth. At least to those that refuse to think.

I did not know about this, but I recently had a thought that the US is not drilling for oil because of environmental concerns, as they'd have us believe. Rather, they don't drill so that we can be the last country in the world with oil and finally have complete world supremacy.

Our oil might only last 50 years, but imagine if we are the only country capable of driving, flying, moving ships, trains, launching satellites, missiles, tanks, etc.

Different question. What happens to the earth where you extract the oil from? Does it become hollow? Does it fill with anything else to replace the missing oil? I've always wondered about this but never asked

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I don't know about oil, but supposedly the ground sinks when you take water from it (ie through wells) and this is happening in Central CA ...IIRR

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Oil generally resides in pores of rocks, so not much leaves in terms of actual land mass.

Mars23 said:

Good point.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Can't we tap into the massive oil reserves of the Jersey Shore cast?

squirrelgrease said:

seriously, I had no clue

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

nevermind that squirrelgrease, it's a good question!!

NDRU said:

I though everyone knew they fill the spaces back up with unicorn tears.

squirrelgrease said:

I thought empty oil spaces was where all the old farts went