People can't stop talking about America's potential to develop its shale oil and gas.
These are liquid crude hydrocarbons found deep within specialized rock formations.
But it's not our first time shale has shaken us up.
In the late '70s and early '80s, the U.S. went through a frenzied period of attempting to develop domestic oil shale resources (which, although it comes from the same type of rock, is slightly different from the oil shale everyone's talking about today).
The plan was to pump product out of mountain ranges spanning Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
To that end, the government set up the Synethic Fuels Corporation "to create a market for synthetic fuel alternatives to imported fossil fuels" like shale oil.
Five years later, it was dead — a spectacular boondoggle
But the hysteria at the time was incredible — rivaling what we're seeing today.
And the company's story teaches us a lesson about what will truly determine our energy future.
As far back as the '60s, the government recognized shale's importance
"The Department of the Navy is convinced that it is necessary to encourage continued experimentation in the mining, production and refining of oil shale and shale oil" for both emergency use and as a fuel supplement, Navy captain Ken Lovell told Congress.
A decade later, the rush was on. The government began proposing a "Manhattan Project"-style effort to "bleed the mountains" of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah of their deposits
Occidental was proposed to lead the project to access the estimated 1.8 trillion barrels lie beneath the those states. "A crash program, say the Occidental engineers, could relieve the us oil shortage within 3 years," the article says.
But by 1975, there were already hiccups. UPI reported companies had seen "sharp setbacks" from companies' sluggishness overcoming technical obstacles
"The Utah sands are so hard that there is no commercial interest in extracting the oil," the reporter wrote, though noted a new study said the setbacks would be temporary.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Money Game on Twitter and Facebook.