U.S. West's sea of oil will take time to tap A key issue in the Rocky Mountain West this political season is how to tap Western oil reserves that could be twice as large as Saudi Arabia's - but are encased in rock. The presidential campaigns have weighed in, mindful of polls that suggest that finding new sources of energy is a priority for many Western voters. In the Mountain West, oil shale plays as prominent a role as natural gas and oil drilling. "Unlike the Bush administration's reckless develop-at-all-costs strategy, (Barack) Obama will work with local stakeholders to determine the best path forward and will ensure that science - not big oil - guides our decision-making processes," Obama campaign spokesman Matt Chandler said in a written statement. What Bush has referred to as "enormous reserves" lie beneath the Green River Basin of northwestern Colorado, southwestern Wyoming and eastern Utah. The area contains an estimated 1 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil - up to three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia - locked in rock. Roughly 800 billion barrels are considered recoverable. The trick is getting the oil out. People have tried off and on for nearly a century. The shale, or kerogen, is a precursor that wasn't buried deeply enough or naturally processed long enough to complete the transformation to oil. And even the most ardent supporters of mining oil shale concede commercial development is likely at least a decade off...