The numbers quickly get mind-numbing on this: they're both too large, and way too small, at the same time.

Based on your numbers, the hypothetical 100,000 ton per day operation would yield 59,500 bpd (average grade, 25 gal/ton) to 119,000 bpd (high grade, 50 gal/ton). At an arbitrary $70 per barrel, that's gross revenues of $4 to $8 million per day, or $1.5 to $3 billion per year. That's a pretty big business for most industries.

Unfortunately, for all the investment, and all the environmental damage, the output from this operation is maybe 0.3% of US daily consumption. Put this output in the context of declining US and world oil output, and it looks like a pretty small band-aid.

I think we'll need every little bit of fuel that is economically and environmentally feasible to produce--and current evidence (as RR points out) suggests that we'll produce everything regardless of environmental or economic concerns. Shale oil is probably part of that picture.

I guess there is no problem with clutching at straws as long as you know they are straws, and you work to come up with better approaches (like conservation).