Mr. MENDENHALL. The original coal fields of the United States, which are, of course, still sources of supply.

Senator O'MAHONEY. Some of them have been exhausted, of course. Mr. MENDENHALL. Individual beds in local areas may have been, but those areas are not large enough to show on that map.

Senator O'MAHONEY. By and large, how much coal is there in the United States still to be mined?

Mr. MENDENHALL. Approximately 3,000,000,000,000 tons. There is plenty of coal.

Another map shows the western deposits of certain metals. The map adjacent to it is a record of the principal strategic minerals that have been examined by the Geological Survey and reported upon to the various agencies since 1938.

The last map to your right is a map of certain nonferrous minerals showing the proportion of production in each of the States.

These maps to the extent that you desire detail will be described and presented to you by members of our staff, and when you are ready to go on with another item Mr. Stabler will tell you of our work on power. Senator O'MAHONEY. Have you ever attempted to have these reproduced in any of the Geological Survey publications?

Mr. MENDENHALL. Certain of those maps, the coal and oil and gas maps, and perhaps the map of nonmetaliferous minerals, have been reproduced in black and white. They will be presented to you in formal prepared statements so they will be available for reproduction in your report. Any of the other maps can be reproduced in a form so that they can be published. Naturally those [indicating] cannot be. Senator O'MAHONEY. It would make the report itself much more intelligible to have the maps in black and white if that can be done.

Mr. MENDENHALL. Yes. The coal map has been published. The oil and gas map is available in that form for publication. The others can be prepared in any way that you would like.

Senator O'MAHONEY (chairman of the subcommittee). Dr. Stabler, are you prepared to proceed now, or would you prefer to start fresh in the morning?

Mr. STABLER. I am willing to go ahead now, and I shall not take a great deal of time.

Senator O'MAHONEY. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF HERMAN STABLER, CHIEF,

CONSERVATION

BRANCH, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mr. STABLER. I want to emphasize the fact that in energy resources the western part of the United States, the public land States including the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast areas, have a great abundance of energy resources; and in the world of today, the world of power, those energy resources are very essential to the development of the region.

I will illustrate that by reference to the three maps at the back of the room. First, the map of the coal fields. You will see that the coal areas cover quite a large percentage of the country. They can be rather easily mapped in detail and make quite a showing when placed on a map of that kind. A glance at the map indicates that something over half of the coal resources are in the western country, though the quality is not equal to that of the coal resources of the

East.

The coal resources of the West are available for use as fuel and the production of power, and also, under the newer hydrogenation processes, can be converted in large part into oil.

FIGURE 1

I have been told that each ton of coal can be made to produce 30 to 60 percent of is weight in oil; and if those figures are correct, the coal resources in the public lands alone in those Western States would represent in terms of oil a hundred times our known oil resources throughout the country.

I present that figure not to indicate that the coal will all be used up in that way, because, of course, it will not, but it gives some comparison of the magnitude of the coal and oil resources.

Starting in the north, in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico we have abundant coal resources.

Turning, now, to the oil and gas and oil shale map on the extreme left, as I look from this direction, we find a very different picture. The spots of color on that map do not cover a very large area. As a matter of fact, the known productive area of oil fields is only about 5,000,000 acres out of a total of 2,000,000,000 acres in the United States exclusive of Alaska and the islands.

Senator O'MAHONEY. How does it happen that there is so little color in California, for example? California is very rich in oil, is it not? Mr. STABLER. There is very little color, too, shown in Texas, which is the largest oil State of all. It does not really give a true picture of production because the areas are so small. Small areas may yield large volume and vice versa. The area of the oil fields is not proportional to the volume of the resources.

Senator O'MAHONEY. I was about to say that a glance at that map would lead an uninitiated person to believe that there was no particular need for building a new pipe line from Texas to the eastern part of the United States to prevent rationing of gasoline, because in the Appalachian region, apparently, according to the map, there is a very great supply of petroleum. But the facts are that much the greater supply is found in the West.

Mr. STABLER. That is true. The map is, let me repeat, not a volumeof-production map but a map showing areas underlain by oil and gas. As a matter of fact, the Rocky Mountain and Pacific States have about 25 percent of the known oil resources of the country, Texas having a greater oil resource than any other one State and not being included in that 25 percent.

Mr. COMER. If the map could be reproduced for the record on some other device, say a figure which would indicate the known supplies, it could be made to bring up Texas and California.

Mr. STABLER. A graph of that type by States, somewhat on the order of the power map, could be prepared, but it would not show areas underlain by oil and gas as does the present exhibit.

Mr. COMER. That would correct the apparent error.

Senator O'MAHONEY. The reserves of oil in the United States are vastly greater today than were the known reserves 25 years ago. Is that not a fact?

Mr. STABLER. The known reserves today are greater than the known reserves then; that is very true.

Senator O'MAHONEY. This map does not indicate that picture at all, does it?

Mr. STABLER. No; although, of course, it shows oil fields not then known.

Senator O'MAHONEY. It would be possible to prepare a map which would, would it not?

Mr. STABLER. We will leave that up to Mr. Miser, who will discuss the oil reserves in some detail later on. I am just endeavoring to offer a brief discussion of the three maps to give an over-all picture of the energy resources, coal, oil, gas, oil shale, and water power.

The principal oil States in the West are, coming from north to south, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and California. In the matter of oil shale there is a special coloring just east of Great Salt Lake in the States of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, which indicates an immense reserve source of possible oil when needed, though probably further in the future, by reason of the initial cost, than the reserve of oil that might be produced from coal.

Then, turning to the central map, the map of water power, the large circles show the potential water power by States in the western part of the United States and by regions in the East. All of the waterpower estimates of the country are based on topographical surveys and stream measurements made almost exclusively by the Geological Sur

vey.

Senator O'MAHONEY. I take it that the black sector represents development and the circle represents potential water power? Mr. STABLER. That is true.

Senator O'MAHONEY. All of the circles are on the same scale?
Mr. STABLER. Yes.

Senator O'MAHONEY. So that by looking at them you can make comparison between the power resources of one area and another? Mr. STABLER. That is true. Since 1908 the Survey has published estimates of potential water power, the latest one being made in 1939. I will leave for the record a copy of that estimate.

The sectors circles, as stated, represent potential water power. The inside black areas represent installed capacity of water wheels as estimated and published by the Federal Power Commission.

You will notice the circle up in New England and its large black sector. The evident comparison is that most of the potential power has been developed there.

We go to Washington, at the other extreme, to the largest circle of all, and notice that a very small proportion has been developed.

Nevada is rather striking. If we leave out the power at Boulder Canyon, the water power of Nevada would be represented by a dot, so that the circle and the black sector practically coincide there.

But taking that group of Western States, the Rocky Mountain States of themselves have between 20 and 25 percent of the potential water power of the country, while the Pacific Coast States have between 40 and 45 percent. Taken together, approximately two-thirds of the potential water power of the United States lies in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States.

Senator O'MAHONEY. Now, it is a rather striking thing, is it not, that so far as the map itself goes the Mississippi River does not seem to be included anywhere as a source of water power. That cannot be true, can it?

Mr. STABLER. It is not a great source of water power. The Mississippi Basin is represented there by four circles and sectors, or three and a part of a fourth: One in the central plains, the Missouri