Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60

§13412 Oil Shale

Title 42 › Chapter 134— ENERGY POLICY › Subchapter VIII— REDUCTION OF OIL VULNERABILITY › Part A— Oil and Gas Supply Enhancement › § 13412

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary must run a five-year program to study how to make liquid fuels from eastern and western oil shale. The program’s goals are to develop ways that are cost-competitive and environmentally safe, improve waste disposal, learn the chemistry and timing of extracting oil from shale, solve engineering and scale-up problems, improve mining methods, and work with universities and private companies. The program must include applied research on eastern shale, consider partners already working on eastern retorting as of October 24, 1992, and share costs with universities and private partners when possible. For western shale, the Secretary must include field testing and, if appropriate, set up at least one field test center at sites with existing facilities, and must report to Congress 60 days before opening any such center. Authorized funding is $5,250,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $6,000,000 for fiscal year 1994.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §13412

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary shall conduct a 5-year program, in accordance with section 13541 and 13542 of this title, on oil shale extraction and conversion, including research and development on both eastern and western shales, as provided in this section.

(b)The goals of the program established under this section include—

(1)supporting the development of economically competitive and environmentally acceptable technologies to produce domestic supplies of liquid fuels from oil shale;

(2)increasing knowledge of environmentally acceptable oil shale waste disposal technologies and practices;

(3)increasing knowledge of the chemistry and kinetics of oil shale retorting;

(4)increasing understanding of engineering issues concerning the design and scale-up of oil shale extraction and conversion technologies;

(5)improving techniques for oil shale mining systems; and

(6)providing for cooperation with universities and other private sector entities.

(c)(1)As part of the program authorized by this section, the Secretary shall carry out a program on oil shale that includes applied research, in cooperation with universities and the private sector, on eastern oil shale that may have the potential to decrease United States dependence on energy imports.

(2)As part of the program authorized by this subsection, the Secretary shall consider the potential benefits of including in that program applied research carried out in cooperation with universities and other private sector entities that are, as of October 24, 1992, engaged in research on eastern oil shale retorting and associated processes.

(3)The program carried out under this subsection shall be cost-shared with universities and the private sector to the maximum extent possible.

(d)As part of the program authorized by this section, the Secretary shall carry out a program on extracting oil from western oil shales that includes, if appropriate, establishment and utilization of at least one field testing center for the purpose of testing, evaluating, and developing improvements in oil shale technology at the field test level. In establishing such a center, the Secretary shall consider sites with existing oil shale mining and processing infrastructure and facilities. Sixty days prior to establishing any such field testing center, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress on the center to be established.

(e)There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for carrying out this section $5,250,000 for fiscal year 1993 and $6,000,000 for fiscal year 1994.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 13412

Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60