That is not to say we shouldn't encourage the extraction of oil from shale rock in the Green River formation of eastern Utah, northwestern Colorado and southwestern Wyoming. But in crafting legislation to do that, Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch and other lawmakers should take a lesson from the boom in oil shale development in the 1970s and the subsequent bust of the 1980s.

The situation today, with record-high oil prices and dwindling domestic resources, in many ways mirrors the '70s, when the government offered tax incentives and price guarantees to spur development of oil shale deposits. That worked until oil prices dropped in the early 1980s. The government subsidies ended and oil companies walked away from an estimated $5 billion investment, leaving mines and their communities to dry up.

Hatch says new technology developed since then can make oil extraction more cost-effective. He is sponsoring legislation to offer tax incentives for research and development and federal funding to jump-start it.

We are always wary of government bribing businesses to do what market forces should prompt them to do on their own. Yet government can mitigate the effects of price fluctuations. To help the state avoid another bust, with its severe economic ramifications, any legislation to motivate development should also help keep shale oil production economically feasible if and when oil prices take a dive.

The environmental effects of extracting oil from shale must also be a factor in decisions to lease federal land for development. Some of the likely sites in Utah are habitat for endangered plants and animals that need protection. The Senate version of the energy bill rightly requires an environmental impact study of shale-oil extraction.

Some believe that oil from shale ultimately can be produced for as little as $10 a barrel, which would make it key, along with conservation and development of renewable energy sources, to maintaining a domestic supply of oil to counter the effects of $50-a-barrel imported oil.

The energy stakes are high, but history tells us caution should be the watchword for oil-shale development.