http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/25/interior-department-withdraws-expanded-oil-shale-l/WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has put the brakes on expanded research and development leases for Colorado and Utah oil shale, reversing a decision issued in the final days of President George W. Bush's term.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that his department will instead offer a second round of research, development and demonstration leases for oil shale in Colorado and Utah. It will withdraw the previous administration's proposal for expanded RD&D leases.
Salazar told reporters in a teleconference he wanted to further analyze the impact and feasibility of commercial oil shale development in the West.
He called the Bush administration's decision "premature."
"Those who have fantasized that oil shale is the panacea for America's energy needs have been living in a fantasy land. ... No one at this point in time can quantify how we're going to get the carogen out of those rocks and what the associated costs are," Salazar said.
In the Senate, Salazar had pushed for limits in congressional legislation on tapping oil shale in his home state, Utah and Wyoming.
Salazar had worried that the development might hurt the landscape. He also voiced concern over how much water and electricity oil shale technology would consume.
Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter from which oil may be produced, either through heat or a chemical process.
The deposits under Colorado, Utah and Wyoming have about three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia, according to the Interior Department.