Utah Oil Shale: Science, Technology, and Policy Perspectives

Includes full-color isopach and richness maps for each organic-rich and organic-lean oil shale interval within the upper Green River Formation.

Offers computational exploration of trade-offs in drilling and heating options on the net energy return for oil produced from an in situ process.

Analyzes costs and emissions associated with in situ production of oil shale.

Discusses legal and policy issues for a nascent oil shale industry.

Jennifer P. Spinti was the Assistant Director of the Clean and Secure Energy from Domestic Oil Shale and Oil Sands Resources program in the Institute for Clean and Secure Energy (ICSE) at The University of Utah from 2009 to 2015. As part of her duties, she organized the University of Utah Unconventional Fuels Conference, edited and published two reports on oil shale and oil sands, and developed a repository of documents, maps, and data related to these resources. She also oversaw research projects related to development of oil shale and oil sands resources in Utah’s Uinta Basin and was actively involved in two of those projects. Dr. Spinti earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Utah in 1997 studying NOx emissions from coal combustion. Since then, her research has focused on using computer simulation of combustion systems to reduce the environmental impacts of fossil fuel utilization.