Oil Shale
Shell Pulls Proposed Water Right for the Yampa River
On February 23, 2010, Shell Frontier Oil and Gas has writhdrawn its proposed water right in the Yampa River basin, citing economic concerns.The withdrawal drew a big sigh of relief across the region and around the state because Shell’s right would have had a big impact of the last free-flowing river in Colorado.
Western Resource Advocates wrote one of the 25 statements of opposition filed against the proposed right. The Yampa River is the last, best hope for endangered fish recovery in the state, an objective that many water management agreements are bound to fulfill and could have been put in jeopardy by Shell’s move.
Oil shale development is incompatible with sustaining the West’s clean air and water, rural agricultural communities, and wild landscapes.
Although Shell says it will continue with its research, the company acknowledges that the process will be slow and contingent upon such factors as the development of a viable oil shale production technology. It is obvious that commercial oil shale development is still not ready for prime time.
As a result of Shell’s actions, Colorado residents can breathe a little easier and the Yampa River lives to flow another year.
"Promise and Perils of Oil Shale" Presentations Available Online
WRA was a presenter at the recent Natural Resources Law Center conference on oil shale. Presentations available in electronic form have been posted online. The "Promise and Perils" forum invited representatives from industry, government, and other experts to discuss the current state of oil shale and what they foresee as its future.
Oil Shale Would Upend US Climate Change Work
In a guest commentary published in the Denver Post, WRA President Karin P. Sheldon and scholar-in-residence at the University of Colorado's Environmental Studies program Paul Komor lay out the case why oil shale will set this nation, and the planet, back on achieving climate change goals. Unconventional fuels sources like oil shale and tar sands require huge qualtities of CO2-producing energy to turn them into refinable liquids before they themselves are burned and release yet more CO2. Looking at Canada's example with their tar sands industry, their stated goals of reducing climate altering greenhouse gasses by 6% has instead become an increase of 26%. Read the full op-ed piece here.
WRA Fact Sheet Exposes Holes in Understanding of Oil Shale Economics
Western Resource Advocates has examined claims of the purported economic benefits of oil shale development and has identified flaws in methodologies and gaps in understanding of what the regional impacts of pursuing oil shale could be. Click here to read the Oil Shale Economics Fact Sheet.
Read the Latest Issue of WRA's Oil Shale News
WRA publishes Oil Shale News to keep the media and public up-to-date on events and developments concerning oil shale. Click below to read the latest developments on this controversial resources:
- January, 2010 OSN issue
- October-November, 2009 OSN issue
- September, 2009 OSN issue
- August, 2009 OSN issue
If you would like to get on our mailing list to receive future editions, click here to let us know.
WRA Voices Oil Shale Concerns on "Environment Report" Radio Program
WRA oil shale policy analyst David Abelson was featured on the "Environment Report", a radio program produced in the Midwest that investigated the link between oil shale and water. Click here to listen to the broadcast or to read the transcript.
NPR Consults WRA on Oil Shale
National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed WRA oil shale policy advisor David Abelson for a story on oil shale. Abelson's comments were a realistic counterpoint to industry's dubious claims of a bright future for a resource that has never been proven to be commercially feasible nor environmentally sensible. Listen to the story here.
WRA Fights Oil Shale Leasing Regulations
WRA has strenuously opposed draft regulations issued by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in July to begin commercial-scale leasing of millions of acres of oil-shale-bearing lands in the West. These draft regulations were held in check by a Congressionally authorized moratorium prohibiting issuance of final leasing regulations. But at the end of September, the moratorium was allowed to expire, and the Bush Administration has made clear its intent to finalize the draft rules.
As WRA pointed out in its comments to the BLM, the draft regulations
are premature. No viable technology currently exists that is
capable of commercial-scale oil shale extraction. The processes under
development are beset by problems such as energy and water requirements,
pollution, and lack of cost-effectiveness that prevent industrial
implementation.
In the absence of a viable technology, the draft regulations cannot properly address the issues of royalties, diligence requirements, and other elements of leasing on public lands. The U.S. Treasury stands to lose billions of dollars as these rules, favorable to industry, attempt to regulate the unknown.
“Knowledge must precede action, but in this case politics is preceding common sense,” said David Abelson, who is marshalling WRA’s response to oil shale development. “Research and development must be completed so we can understand if this industry will develop, and if it does, what problems we’ll need to address. Drafting these regulations was a waste of taxpayer dollars. But if they are implemented, the costs will be far, far higher.”
Oil Shale Leasing
The United States is home to approximately 50% of the world’s oil shale deposits -- most of which are located in the Green River formation of western Colorado, eastern Utah, and southern Wyoming. This oil shale can, in theory, be heated to extreme temperatures of up to 700° F for conversion into low- to medium-grade oil -- literally creating oil from rock. In this region of the west, industry estimates that oil shale could be converted into up to 1 trillion barrels of oil. The problems of cost and serious environmental concerns, however, have so far kept this resource in the ground.
The idea of producing oil from oil shale is enjoying a popularity not seen in over 25 years. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the oil industry poured billions of dollars into failed oil shale projects in western Colorado. Notwithstanding the high oil prices of the day, oil shale remained prohibitively expensive. That boom ended abruptly on May 2, 1982 -- Black Sunday -- the day that Exxon announced it would close its $5 billion Colony II project near Parachute, Colorado, putting 2,200 people out of work in a single day.
However, with oil prices climbing the time is apparently ripe to reconsider oil shale development. The Bureau of Land Management has asked the public for terms to be included in oil shale research and development leases, and WRA prepared comments detailing environmental concerns and recommending particular provisions to address risks to the landscape, communities, and human health. The U.S. Congress included provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that seek to accelerate activities related to eventual leasing and development of oil shale and tar sands resources.
There’s an old saying in Colorado that “Oil shale has a fantastic future -- it always has, and it always will.” Despite the current flurry of interest, only time will tell whether development of oil shale will see the light of day, given its significant risks and exorbitant costs.