Reminds me of Wyatt from Ayn Rands "Atlas shrugged", seriously though this is massive if it works and is really economical.An article in the Rocky Mountain News describes how Shell has demonstrated a practical way to extract oil from the shale deposits in Colorado.
Since it describes those deposits as "the largest fossil fuel deposits in the world," that could be a very good thing for those of us who are currently paying anywhere from $3 on up for a gallon of regular unleaded."
The one problem with it is that it'll reduce the interest in hybrid/fuel saving technologies/cars by quite a bit due to the reduced benefits, but at least this ought to buy some more time before the gas dries up.