IRVING, TX—In what Exxon officials described as "an urgent wake-
up call to the nation," scientists from the oil giant's
paleontological-research arm released a report Monday calling
for an "immediate and substantial" increase in U.S. fossil
production.  Exxon paleontologist Jameson Lamm (right) surveys a
company-owned site in West Texas containing 50-million-year-old
fossil deposits.  "America's fossil deposits are running
alarmingly low," said Dr. Jameson Lamm, head of Exxon's
paleontological research and development team. "At the current
rate at which we are producing new fossils in this country, we
will not have enough to meet the next decade's fossil needs for
another 12 to 15 hundred million years."  Fossilization, the
report said, represents America's best method for converting
organic plant and animal remnants into exploitable chemical-
energy sources via the pressure of miles of layers of rock over
millions of years. Describing the fossilization process as
"virtually free, except for digging, pumping,