BLM Plan to Develop Oil Shale in Western CO raises critical questions

March 9, 2008

 
 
                                                                                                                       
OIL SHALE
 

The Administration’s plan to develop oil shale in western Colorado raises critical questions about what will happen to our water, wildlife and the economy that depends on a healthy abundance of both.

NOTE THAT ON MARCH 13, TEH U.S. SENATE VOTED DOWN AN AMENDMENT TO THE SENATE BUDGET RESOLUTION THAT WAS WRITTEN TO REMOVE A ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM ON OIL SHALE DEVELOPMENT.  

 
Despite spending more than billion on oil shale research and development to date, industry concedes its technology is still in the experimental phase. We understand as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 Congress directed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to issue research, development and demonstration (RD&D) leases. The express purpose of the RD&D program is to test and demonstrate new oil shale development technologies, an essential first step in any effort to develop the extensive oil shale resources of the West.
 
Yet it appears the Administration intends to create regulations and lease up to 2 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management long before anyone knows whether oil shale extraction actually works.
 
Colorado's native wildlife species that provide both a sustainable economic resource and a defining measure of our Western heritage and traditions stand to be among the biggest losers if a full-blown oil shale industry transforms the landscape as envisioned by the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
Massive drilling and refining projects and the roads, pipelines, transmission towers and other supporting infrastructure will likely disrupt migration corridors and critical winter range deer, elk and other species need to survive. Oil shale development will consume enormous amounts of water needed to sustain healthy fish populations and require new coal plants whose pollution will darken the skies. The BLM states that in the production area, all other uses will be eliminated. 
As to impacts upon wildlife, Dr. William Alldredge, a professional ecologist who specializes in big game species, states in the report he has just completed, “The aerial extent of habitat disturbance resulting from development could be so extensive that local wildlife populations might be extirpated. BLM must explain how the extent of development will be contained and how reclamation will proceed so as to avoid extirpation of local wildlife populations.” He continues, “In Table 4.8.1-1 (4-67) the BLM classifies impacts to various wildlife species as small, moderate or large. There is no justification provided in the text as to how these relative levels of impacts are scientifically justified. Expressing impact as a percentage of a population affected provides an incomplete assessment. The impact on the population also depends on the age and sex classes of animals affected. Furthermore, reduction of a population by 50% would hardly be considered moderate by most wildlife biologists and especially not by individuals whose livelihood depended on revenue obtained from wildlife-based recreation. The BLM must provide scientifically credible justification for the relative scale of magnitudes for impacts discussed on pages 4-66 and 4-67. ”
 
To ensure oil shale development minimizes disruption to our wildlife, our communities and our recreation economy, the BLM must first understand the viability of any technology that will be utilized. The BLM has made it clear it will be years until the RD&D leases are completed and the agency is able to evaluate the results. Yet it is currently rushing to complete an environmental impact statement that purports to assess an oil shale industry based on technology whose feasibility or true impacts will be unknown for years.
 
It is important to note that Section 369 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 does not mandate that the Interior Department hold a commercial lease sale for oil shale resources. Instead, the law says the Department of Interior may hold a commercial lease sale if the Interior Secretary finds sufficient support for such a program among state governors, Indian tribes and other affected parties, which most certainly include hunters, anglers and all who value Colorado’s wildlife.
 
Accordingly, we strongly urge you to support efforts to extend the current Congressional prohibition barring the Interior Department from issuing commercial oil shale leasing regulations, or issuing commercial leases, before meaningful analysis of oil shale RD&D projects on federal land have been accomplished. We respectfully request that Congress require the BLM to prove oil shale will work before authorizing this federal program.
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