that foreign investment in the tar sands has plummeted. the projected growth of tar sands development has already been knocked down by more than a million barrels of oil per day because of concerns that this pipeline won t get built and because of similar unrest in canada. canadians don t want pipelines going through their territory either. 10 what we re already seeing is projected to man growth has gone from six or seven million barrels of oil a day down below six and now close to five million barrels of oil a day simply because the pipelines are being resisted. so there is a chance to keep the oil in the ground. and that s our focus. okay. that s the focus. but the reality of it is the best way to transport oil in america is through pipeline, especially the latest technology of it. that s my position on this. this bakken shale oil isn t going to go away. and it s going to go to market, and it s going to affect our energy. that doesn t mean because there is a pipeline being built th
domestic energy boom in places like north dakota. oil shale is a type of rock that can be a mineralized form of oil. it is the largest oil resource we have in the united states, larger than canada s oil sands resource, according to the government s own figures. reporter: some industry estimates run into trillions of barrels but wouldn t be easy to get. has to be heated to high temperatures under pressure. and it will impact the land and water. reporter: the george w. bush administration set aside 1.3 million acres for oil shale and tar sands development in colorado, utah, and wyoming. the new plan cuts that by two-thirds, because the bureau says the technology is not yet proven. it has prompted industry outrage. the chinese are inviting companies in, companies that may have done business in the united states if we had a better
jenna: well, happening now, serious new concerns about the obama administers stance on administration s stance on the current oil boom as we re learning that the white house has authorized only about a third of the public lands in the western u.s. for tar sands and oil shale development. it s a big topic, lots of debate on both sides. alicia acuna is live in denver with more on this story. reporter: hi, jenna, yes, and there is a group of environmental conservationists who are saying there is still too much land being made available for exploration of these two types of energy, and they re planning to sue the bureau of land management for violating the endangered species act. but the blm is already going to authorize a drastically smaller amount of public land for use of oil shale and tar sands development can than what former president george w. bush s administration s energy plan called for. the blm says scarce water resources in the west are to blame but insists that this is
is this the worst form of energy? there s dirty coal plants, for sure. i know you ve done good work on that. i totally support you and the sierra club on it, but what i m struck by is why are you signaling out this one when, you know, at the end of the day the greenhouse gas emissions profile is not going to be that different given that we continue to consume the stuff. why not try to do something about that consumption issue? i appreciate the point. the work that we re doing on coal relates very closely to this. over the last three years more than 140 u.s. coal plants have been announced for retirement. a lot of them will be replaced by clean energy, and it s enabling the u.s. to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to a point that we were at 20 years ago. the tar sands, the overall tar sands development threatens to undermine all of that progress. how? wait. i ve got to stop you. i ve got to stop you. first of all, most of those
point that we were at 20 years ago. the tar sands, the overall tar sands development threatens to undermine all of that progress. how? wait. i ve got to stop you. i ve got to stop you. first of all, most of those coal-fired power plants, the electricity they re generating is being replaced by natural gas. it s being replaced by natural gas that s been gotten through fracking. when you look at volumes, renewables, by which you mean solar and wind is under 5%. most of what we re talking about is natural gas. the replacement of coal is natural gas. so it seems to me there, maybe i m wrong, but you re making a sensible tradeoff that at the end of the day, natural gas is cleaner than coal, correct? sure. we ll get back to keystone in a secretary. second. what s happening in the electricity market right now, solar and wind, the costs are dropping extremely fast. solar, the cost of solar, has dropped by 80% in the last five years.