On Friday the Interior Department granted leases for oil shale extraction experiments to three companies, Shell, Chevron and EGL Resources, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan. From the article, "The companies must submit detailed development plans, monitor groundwater, and obtain all required permits to protect air and water quality, the department said last month in approving the projects, which could begin as early as the summer. Since 1996, Shell has tested procedures on private land in western Colorado that involve baking shale rock in the ground with electric heating rods, then pumping the melted oil to the surface. Circulating refrigerants through underground pipes to freeze adjacent areas would keep groundwater away from the melted oil. The Bureau of Land Management declared the projects would have no significant environmental impact. But state officials and environmentalists voiced concerns about threats to air and water, and said there was a lack of information on the kinds of substances released by the extraction process."
"2008 pres"
6:39:46 AM 
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