Most people think about the Federal government in terms of legislation, regulation, military, and debt. Seldom does the issue of Federal government assets arise. If people were told that the U.S. government owns 20% of all U.S. land, many would be greatly surprised.
A portion of that land falls under the Bureau of Indian Affairs and more under the Forest Service and National Park Service. But then there is a wide area [yellow above] under the Bureau of Land Management.
While some of this land can be considered "national treasures"... unique, scenic, pristine, fragile... a lot of it is generally nondescript. And some of it is valuable for what lies below the surface.
From Astute Bloggers:
GAO: America has 2.5 TRILLION barrels of recoverable oil on federal lands in Colorado, Utah and WyomingThat's roughly 15 or 16 times the national debt in today's price of the oil. Even if only 25% were recoverable, that oil is still fairly valuable.
“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered,” [Anu K.] Mittal [GAO’s director of natural resources and environment] told the [House Science] subcommittee [on Energy and Environment]."
So, the question that begs to be asked is: why is the Federal government sucking the wealth out of the private sector in the form of taxes when it is sitting on so much wealth itself? That's sort of like an individual being on welfare while owning a safe full of gold. You try getting away with that.
The positive economic impact of shale oil extraction has been shown in North Dakota.
North Dakota Sets New Records in February for Both Crude Oil Production and Oil Employment