In one of his last actions as head of the Department of Interior, Secretary Ken Salazar has finalized the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) plan to make nearly 700,000 acres of public land in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah available for oil shale development. The plan requires that in order to pursue commercial oil shale leases, companies must develop a technology for processing oil shale that doesn’t endanger water and air supplies—something which oil companies have so far been unable to do.
After 100 years of speculation and failed oil shale projects, the BLM’s plan represents a smart approach that protects our water and local communities in the West, without repeating past mistakes.
Oil shale, not to be confused with shale oil, which is actual oil trapped in underground rock formations, is not oil at all. Rather, it’s a rock containing kerogen, a fossilized algae. To produce liquid petroleum, the kerogen must be scorched—a water and energy intensive process that places oil shale under extreme heat and pressure for long stretches of time.
A legacy of failure
Nobody in the United States has ever developed a viable technology for oil shale. Techniques used in other countries, like Estonia, are devastating to water supplies and air quality, and only pencil out with heavy government subsidies.
No one can say for certain how much water commercial oil shale extraction and processing would require. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that commercial oil shale production could use as much as 140 percent of the water used by the Denver metro area alone.
Western communities understand too well the consequence of oil companies being granted free reign on their public lands. People living on Colorado’s Western Slope remember “Black Sunday” when, on May 2, 1982, Exxon shut down its Colony oil shale project overnight and laid off 2,200 workers. The project’s failure wiped out local economies, as towns emptied, small business closed down, and there was a run on a local bank.
Oil shale still a failure today
Since 2007, the DOI has awarded eight oil shale research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) leases to private industry in Colorado and Utah. Already, many of these projects are showing signs of trouble.
In February 2012, Chevron abandoned its oil shale lease to focus efforts on more viable energy sources. ExxonMobil—treading more carefully than in the past—admits commercial oil shale is, at best, a decade away, maybe longer.
Enefit, considered the ‘world leader’ on oil shale, has run into significant problems with its attempts to commercially develop oil shale in Utah, including technology that doesn’t work and negative financial ratings. Enefit has come under fire from press and politicians in Estonia, the company’s home country, and is plagued with a long record of water and soil contamination, as well as air pollution.
Today, oil shale development remains a failed energy source. The BLM’s plan puts Western water supplies and local communities first. It places the burden of proof on oil companies to demonstrate that oil shale development is, first, even possible, and second, can be done safely and without draining Western water supplies.