Expansion of the hydroretorting data base to include six eastern oil shales is being conducted by HYCRUDE corporation under a three year cooperative agreement with the US DOE initiated in October, 1985. One of the shales examined during the first program year consisted of the Gassaway members of the Chattanooga formation located in central Tennessee. Results of experimental work on the Chattanooga shale conducted at the Institute of Gas Technology have been scaled up to commercial size operation by HYCRUDE to provide the basis for a conceptual commercial plant design. Tennessee Technological University has utilized this design to generate an assessment of the environmental impact of an eastern oil shale hydroretorting facility located in Tennessee. Subsequently, the Tennessee Technological University study was used in a comparison of the hydroretorting facility with a conventional thermal retorting facility in Tennessee.