Who hasn’t heard the old saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it?” That often-quoted adage was written by 19th century philosopher George Santayana.
Had he been living today, Santayana might have been referring to the critics of the oil shale and tar sands decision released in March by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
The BLM’s Record of Decision (ROD) overturns a G.W. Bush-era energy policy that opened some two and a half million acres of public land to oil shale and tar sand development in the west. The new policy reduces that amount substantially, but still makes more than 360,000 acres of public land available for leasing in Utah. That is an area about the size of Canyonlands National Park.
Critics of the ROD say that such a reduced acreage is tragic for Utah. I believe it represents a very prudent strategy, especially given the history of oil shale development in the West.
At least twice in the past century, attempts to turn oil shale into liquid crude have failed, the most recent being the Colony project in western Colorado that closed down in 1982. These boom-and-bust cycles left behind ruined towns, lives and landscapes — piles of arsenic-laden spent shale, toxic soil and polluted drainages for the government to clean up at even more taxpayer expense.
Previous failures should have taught us some expensive lessons. According to the watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, some $7 billion in taxpayer subsidies have already gone into oil shale research.
Now there are claims that new, low-impact technologies pioneered in eastern European Estonia are the secret to unlocking the mysteries of oil shale. For obvious reasons, the techniques are secret but reportedly use much less energy and water than the old ways did.
In a “show me” response to head off another ill-fated oil shale bonanza, the BLM, in issuing the new ROD cautiously lays out a stepwise, research-first sequence before allocating larger blocks of public land to oil shale development.
A measured approach makes a great deal of common sense. It requires any energy company seeking an oil shale lease to demonstrate the economical feasibility of their proprietary technology. As part of the research, the ROD also requires companies to disclose how these new extraction techniques will affect air quality, water use, water quality, and wildlife.
These are reasonable first steps before a company can receive a commercial lease to process oil shale for the energy market. Should oil shale live up to its proponents’ claims, the ROD leaves open the prospect of making available additional blocks of public land for further development.
Even with the best technology, however, allocating public land for oil shale research and development won’t be without effects to other uses, including conventional oil and gas extraction. And once oil shale leases are issued, traditional uses including hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation pursuits could be precluded.
These uses historically have sustained jobs and reliable incomes for thousands of people. They constitute “a bird in the hand” and are the backbone of many rural economies worth some $3.6 billion in wages and 122,000 jobs in Utah.
If you’re a hunter or an angler, that also includes the value of the experiences of pursuing game in high quality wildlife habitat. These values would be put at risk in reaching for the yet-to-be realized “two in the bush” that oil shale and tar sands development represents.
In moving forward with a careful policy of energy development on the public lands of the west, we can avoid the enmity of future generations by avoiding mistakes of the past.
The truth is, if a generous 360,000 acres are not enough to determine whether Utah’s oil shale can yield marketable quantities of petroleum, 10 times that amount isn’t likely to, either.
Written by: Ken Theis, Utah coordinator of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.
Original Publication URL: http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/05/02/new-oil-shale-decision-avoids-mistakes-past
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