1980s-1990s Wyoming coal mining operations

It turns out energy is a commodity. This is coal, oil, and natural gas in metric tons equivalent. The United States has a tremendous amount of coal. What's the biggest coal mining area of the United States? What state has the most? West Virginia has the best quality coal, in that it's good for making steel. But most of the coal, when times are good, comes from Wyoming. Wyoming has coal mines where you have a hundred feet of dirt in northeastern Wyoming, and then you get to the coal seam.

Tom's first Alberta tar sands consulting case (when oil was ~$30/bbl and extraction cost ~$30/bbl); contrasted with current (2014) state ($50/bbl extraction, $100/bbl market price). Used to make the point that "running out of oil" really means running out of $2/bbl oil — heavy oil reserves remain enormous.

So — energy crisis? We've got as much heavy oil in the form of tar sand in North America, including the Canadians, as Saudi Arabia has in reserves. 200, 250 years. Now, you can't get it for $2 a barrel. When I first worked on a case up in Alberta, it was about $30 a barrel, and oil was going for about $30 a barrel, and they were barely able to make do. Now, because of environmental concerns, it costs them $50 a barrel, but it's selling for $100, so they're making out.