Layers of frustration
Oil shale recovery has had a long and frustrating history in the American West. Here are some of the key moments.
1909: The U.S. government sets aside rich oil shale lands in western Colorado, creating the U.S. Naval Oil Shale Reserve.
1917: Ranchers build the first oil shale retort kiln in De Beque, Colo.
1918-25: More than 30,000 mining claims are staked, marking oil shale’s first boom.
1929: The U.S. Bureau of Mines extracts 3,600 barrels of oil from an experimental retort at Rulison, Colo. Production stops when liquid oil fields are discovered in California, Texas and Oklahoma.
1961: Unocal Corp. shuts down a retort in Parachute, Colo., after 18 months because of operational problems and price uncertainties.
Early 1970s: Royal Dutch Shell experiments with, then abandons, a steam-injection process in Rio Blanco County, Colo.
1966-77: A partnership of 17 companies and the U.S. government operates a secret Anvil Points retort near Grand Junction to produce oil for the Navy. Operational problems and costs force a shutdown, leaving a pile of oil shale 1,000 feet long and 350 feet high contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic. Other energy companies try to improve oil shale recovery methods during this time but get little from the efforts.
1974: Several oil companies lease federal lands for Exxon’s Colony oil shale project near Parachute.
1976-78: The price of crude oil reaches $41 a barrel.
1980: Congress appropriates $14 billion for development of synthetic fuels, giving Colony a boost.
1982: Oil demand and price drops. Exxon shuts down Colony successor project before it can become fully operational, triggering an economic bust in Colorado.
1985: Congress abandons the Synthetic Liquid Fuels program after spending $8 billion over nearly 40 years.
1986-87: The U.S. government sells some oil shale lands, with Shell picking up 17,300 acres in Rio Blanco County.
1997: The Energy Department gives control of most of the Naval Oil Shale Reserve in Colorado to the Bureau of Land Management. Shell experiments with ground heating in Rio Blanco County.
1991: Unocal abandons the last domestic effort to produce oil shale on a commercial scale, near Parachute.
2000: Shell revives its Mahogany oil shale project.
2005: Crude oil tops $60 a barrel; new energy legislation instructs the BLM to lease 5,200-acre tracts for oil shale development within three years.
Sources: Shell Exploration & Production Co.; U.S. Department of Energy; Associated Press archives
