Coyote Gulch

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Energy policy: Oil Shale

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: "Oil shale will be the biggest consumer of Western Slope water in the coming decades, assuming it's developed at all."

More from the article:

"Oil shale is the 800-pound gorilla" in the computations aimed at predicting the region's water use, Dan R. Birch, deputy general manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, told more than 200 people Friday at the district's annual seminar in Grand Junction. It's not possible to know exactly how much water might be required to produce petroleum from oil shale, Birch said. Even the companies working on the problem don't know how much water they'll need, he said...

Those demands include water needed in the process of extracting petroleum from the rock as well as that needed in the process of generating electricity to heat the shale, Birch said. Oil-shale related demand for water won't spike until as late as 2050, according to preliminary studies by the river district, but it will far outstrip the needs of other energy sources. Many companies involved in oil shale already hold "extensive portfolios" of absolute and conditional water rights and eventually will have to build storage if they want to develop the shale, he said. The river district hopes to work with the industry in that case to use that water storage to meet agricultural, municipal and environmental needs, Birch said.

From The Glenwood Springs Post Independent:

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said Wednesday that he supports oil shale language in an energy bill approved by the U.S. House this week that gives states the chance to "opt-in" to oil shale development. However, that bill also includes language that would lift a ban that has blocked the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from issuing final commercial oil shale regulations. Salazar previously said he would fight to keep the ban -- which is slated to end at the end of September -- in place. It was a position that resulted in significant Republican criticism for Salazar. Salazar said his support for the House bill's oil shale package comes from language that would give power to the state legislature and the governor's office to decide if any commercial oil shale leasing can go forward in the state. "In effect, it allows us in the state of Colorado to control our own destiny," Salazar said. "At the end of the day, the people of the state of Colorado are the ones who ultimately will derive both the benefits and the detriments of oil shale development. So having the governor and members of the General Assembly making that decision, I think is a correct one and one I support."

Salazar said his staff was looking to see if that legislation may affect the six oil shale research and development leases in Colorado and Utah, and whether the bill would block those leases from expanding. He added that there are several key unanswered questions that surround oil shale development, like how much water and energy would be needed to drive extraction of the resource. "Those questions remain out there," he said. "I don't believe that within Colorado the federal government should rush head long into a full-scale oil shale development program."

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.
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